


The Impossibility of Dreams

by Shadowhunter_Artemis



Series: Josie's Journey [1]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Bad Wolf, Dreams, F/M, Time Travel, doctor who - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-25
Updated: 2019-04-25
Packaged: 2020-01-31 20:25:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 27
Words: 56,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18598789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadowhunter_Artemis/pseuds/Shadowhunter_Artemis
Summary: For as long as Josie can remember she's had dreams about the Doctor. She doesn't know why but the dreams have left her with a longing to travel the stars. With an assurance from a stranger, Josie patiently awaits the day the Doctor comes to call….





	1. Prologue

_Dreams are a funny thing. Some can be nice and some not so much. Some can boring and mundane while others are weird and wacky. Then there the dreams that feel very real as if they were a premonition or a memory. These are the dreams that I have had for as long as I can remember and they've always been about one man. But he's no ordinary man….in fact he's not even human. And his name is the Doctor._

Josie opened up her journal and softly smiled at the small portraits of the Doctor on the first page. Every time she dreamt of a different Doctor, she added his face to the front page. She turned the page over.

_Now to start with he was just a daft old man who stole a magic box and ran away._

Josie gently touched a sketch of the TARDIS in its police box form. She loved that box.

_And what a box it was! It was big and little at the same time….brand new and ancient...and the bluest blue ever…._

_And the adventures! Oh the adventures. They all varied in different ways with one constant. Running. There was always lots of running._

Josie sighed, sitting back. She'd always wished that she could be involved in the adventures instead of dreaming about them. She always wished...hoped...even prayed that the Doctor would show up and whisk her away in his box. But so far, nothing. Not a peep. Josie wasn't going to give up though, she couldn't.

She remembered a time when she very nearly gave up hope. It had been when she was about 10 years old....

~flashback~

Josie sat under the tree, hugging her knees to her chest, tears running down her face. She'd tried to tell her dad about her latest dream to do with the Doctor but instead of being interested, her dad snapped at her.

_This has gone on long enough Josie! It's time for you to grow up! The Doctor isn't real. He's never been real! You need to give up hope in seeing a man you made up!_

Her father had then taken her journal and tossed it in nearest bin. After he done that, he tried to take his daughter home but Josie had run off. That's how she ended up sitting under the tree in tears.

“Maybe he's right. Maybe I do need to give up hope", Josie sniffled.

“You never want to do that”, a Scottish voice said. Josie glanced up to see an older man with light blue eyes and rather bushy eyebrows standing there. He gave her a kind smile.

“Why not?” Josie asked as the man came to sit down next to her. Her dad had always said not to talk to strangers bit right now she didn't really care about following _his_ advice.

“Hope is like a light in the dark. It can keep you going through the worst of times”, the man explained “so you want to cling onto hope as tightly as you can".

“Easier said then done”, Josie sniffled.

“In most cases it is. But in yours…” the man reached into his pocket and brought out her journal.

“My journal! How…?” Josie asked taking it from him, hugging it against her chest.

“Let's just say I have my ways", the man said rather mysteriously “listen, you're going to have many people tell you that you should give up on the Doctor. But don't. Never give up on him, little dreamer because one day he'll come to call...and it's going to be fantastic”.

“How do you know he will?” Josie asked.

The man smiled at her knowingly “Spoilers”, he replied. He stood up “be seeing you, little dreamer”. He touched the top of her head before turning and walking away.

Josie watched him go and a smile appeared on her face. If that man wanted her to hold onto hope then she was going to hold onto it tight with hands.

~end flashback~

Over the next 10 years, Josie continued to log her dreams in her journals. She also kept a tight hold on hope, patiently waiting the day when the Doctor finally comes to call...


	2. the Doctor comes to call part 1

“Have a good day mam”, Josie said politely handing the receipt over to the woman. The woman just took it and left with her purchase without so much as a thank you. “Yeah, you’re welcome”, Josie muttered. She glanced at the clock and sighed. There were 4 more hours until she was done for the day. Josie looked around at little book shop, noting the number of customers. There weren’t that many which didn’t surprise her as it was rather nice weather, for March that is.

The young black haired woman looked around at the customers making sure that none where going to coming near the till anytime soon, and pulled out her journal. Her latest dreams of the Doctor had been as interesting as all the others, possibly even more so as this Doctor was the one straight out of the Time War. As much as she’d wanted to meet the other Doctor’s, she wanted to meet the War Doctor most of all…just so she could give him a hug…assure him that everything was going to be ok. _The poor guy has been through so much_ she thought tracing the War Doctor’s face. Josie blinked those tears away that had formed as she thought about all those innocent people she’d seen die in her dreams…all those lives that the Daleks took.

A tear dropped onto the paper. Josie raised a hand to her cheek, feeling the wetness. She hadn’t even realised she’d started crying. She took a breath, wiping the tears away and forced herself to turn the page to look at the most recent Doctor.

She knew about his escapade with the Nestene Consciousness…how he met Charles Dickens of all people. She also knew about his latest companion Rose Tyler whom she had seen a lot of missing posters for. It had been very difficult to walk past them, to ignore them when she _knew_ what happened. But how do you tell the police that you’d seen missing teen in a dream? They’d laugh her right out of the station.

Josie was suddenly broken out of her thoughts when there was a loud noise overhead, rattling the glass windows. She got up from her seat, rushing outside with the rest of the customers, joining the growing crowd out in the street. Josie’s blue eyes widened when she saw a spaceship collide with Big Ben! “No way”, she breathed as it crashed into the Thames with a big splash. She couldn’t believe this was happening. A spaceship in the Thames! This will surely get the Doctor’s attention. A smile appeared on her face at that. Maybe this is the day the Scottish man meant all those years ago. Maybe this is the day the Doctor finally comes to call! Her inner self did a little giddy dance at that.

Years of waiting patiently might have finally paid off!

Josie took off in the direction of Big Ben, hoping that she’d be able to get a closer look at the craft and if not…she hoped that she may run into the Doctor. Though what she’d say to him, she had no idea. She knew she couldn’t very well walk up to him and say ‘Hi I’m Josie! I know all about you due to these realistic dreams I’ve had ever since I was little’. He would think she was a madwoman…or even worse…someone that an enemy of his had created in order to get close to him…

Josie shook her head to clear those thoughts. _No telling him the truth, at least not yet_ she thought resolving to play dumb if she did indeed meet him. Unfortunately she wasn’t able to get very far as the army was closing down the roads. So the black haired woman stayed there standing on tiptoes, straining to see something…anything.

Meanwhile on another street, Rose and the Doctor arrived on the scene “We're miles from the centre. The city must be grid locked. The whole of London must be closing down”, Rose said taking it all in.

“I know. I can't believe I'm here to see this. This is fantastic!” the Doctor said happily.

 “Did you know this was going to happen?” Rose asked.

“Nope!” the Doctor replied with a grin on his face.

“Do you recognise the ship?” Rose asked.

“Nope!” the Doctor answered.

“Do you know why it crashed?” Rose questioned.

“Nope!” the Doctor repeated.

“Oh, I'm so glad I've got you”, Rose said sarcastically.

“I bet you are!” the Doctor said completely oblivious to her sarcasm “This is what I travel for, Rose. To see history happening right in front of us”.

“Well, let's go and see it”, Rose suggested “Never mind the traffic, we've got the TARDIS”.

“Better not. They've already got one spaceship in the middle of London. I don't want to shove another one on top”, the Doctor said.

“Yeah, but yours looks like a big blue box. No one's going to notice”, Rose pointed out.

“You'd be surprised. Emergency like this, there'll be all kinds of people watching. Trust me. The TARDIS stays where it is”, the Doctor told her. 

Rose was rather disgruntled about that, she wanted to go investigate the spaceship. “So history's happening and we're stuck here”, she said bitterly.

“Yes, we are”, the Doctor agreed.

“We could always do what everybody else does”, the Doctor looked at Rose questioningly

“We could watch it on TV”. The Doctor looked like this idea was completely new to him.

\--------

Josie entered her home feeling a little disappointed that she wasn’t able to see much from her vantage point in the street. She was also feeling a little disappointed that she hadn’t seen the Doctor either. _There’s still time, plenty of hours left in the day_ she thought trying to stay positive.

She went into the kitchen to make herself a cup of tea. As the kettle boiled, Josie kept a listen out for that wonderful sound that she’d heard many times in her dreams. She loved that sound as she knew what it came attached to, the Doctor ‘magical’ blue box aka the TARDIS. She poured out the water into her mug, popped in a tea bag and then added the milk. She stirred it a couple of times before she deposited the tea bag in the bin. Josie picked up her mug and walked into the living room. She settled herself down and the sofa and switched on the TV. A Spaceship crashed into Big Ben before ending up in the Thames…yeah that was gonna be all over the news.

It wasn’t ideal, watching the events unfold from her house. She would rather preferred to have been in the thick of it. Having said that this was rather like all those dreams she’d been having about the Doctor except this time she was awake….

Or was she? Josie pinched her arm. Ouch! Yep she was awake this time.

Satisfied by this fact, she relaxed against the sofa cushions, mug cradled in her hand while her eyes were fixed upon the TV were the BBC News was playing.

“ _Big Ben destroyed as a UFO crash lands in Central London. Police reinforcements are drafted in from across the country to control widespread panic…_ ”

~Tyler flat~

The Doctor sat in the armchair watching the TV intently trying to block out the annoying chatter and gossiping going on behind him.

“ _They've found a body_ ”, Tom Hitchinson reported from the Thames embankment. This news earned raised eyebrows from the Time Lord. _“It's unconfirmed but I'm being told a body has been found in the wreckage…”_

 _~_ Josie’s house~

The black haired woman's eyes widened at that news and leaned forward on the sofa, wanting to know more.

_“...a body of non-terrestrial origins. It's being brought ashore”_

She watched as a covered gurney was carried away from the ship.

“ _Unconfirmed reports say that the body is of extra-terrestrial origin. An extraordinary event unfolding here live here in Central London. The body is being transferred to a secure unit mortuary, the whereabouts is yet unknown....”_

Josie sat back letting the information sink in. An alien was found in the wreck. And that brought up all sorts of questions. What does it look like? Friendly Or non friendly? Did it crash by accident or did it intend to come here?

~Powell Estate~

The Doctor leaned against the railing, glad to be out of that flat. The gossiping was getting a bit too much for him. He looked down at the TARDIS which was sitting in the courtyard. The news said that an alien body had been found...taken to Albion Hospital. He wanted to go check it out. The Doctor glanced at the front door to the Tyler flat. Could he go without Rose? He debated for a moment before deciding that yes he could. Mainly because he didn't want to risk the wrath of Jackie Tyler. The woman had one hell of a slap!

He started to walk away when Rose came out of the flat. "And where do you think you're going?" she asked.  
  
"Nowhere", the Doctor replied turning back "It's just a bit human in there for me. History just happened and they're talking about where you can buy dodgy top-up cards for half price. I'm off on a wander, that's all".  
  
"Right", Rose said slowly "There's a spaceship on the Thames and you're just 'wandering'".  
  
"Nothing to do with me! It's not an invasion!" the Doctor said "That was a genuine crash landing. Angle of descent, colour of smoke, everything. It's perfect!"  
  
"So..." Rose said.  
  
"So maybe this is it! First contact! The day mankind officially comes into contact with an alien race. I'm not interfering because you've got to handle this on your own. That's when the human race finally grows up. Just this morning you were all tiny and small and made of clay! Now you can expand!" the Doctor laughs in delight and Rose smiles "You don't need me. Go and celebrate history. Spend some time with your mum".  
  
"You promise you won't disappear?" Rose asked hoping he wouldn't just take off in the TARDIS and leave her behind.  
  
"Tell you what. TARDIS key", he said pulling one out of his jacket pocket "It's about time you had one" he handed it over "See you later!" With that he left. Rose looked down at the key in her hand and smiled.

The Doctor quickly headed for the TARDIS and stepped inside, not even hearing Mickey Smith call his name. The blue box vanished as the black man raced towards it causing him to almost collide with the wall.

The Time Lord put in the coordinates for the hospital and sent the TARDIS into the vortex. He was then startled when the ship suddenly jerked and changed course to….a house? The Doctor frowned at the scanner why was the TARDIS taking him here? He wanted to see this so called alien!

The TARDIS landed with a thump. “why are we here?” the Doctor asked. In response an image popped up on the screen. It was of a young woman with black hair and dark blue eyes.

_Josie Turner_

The caption read. Next to it was one word in Gallifreyan: important.

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. “What makes her so important?” he questioned. The TARDIS just gave a hum and flashed ‘important’ on the screen. Twice. The Doctor huffed. Looks like the investigation into the alien that was found was gonna be put on hold until he found out why his ship believed that out of millions of people on the planet Josie Turner was important.


	3. the Doctor comes to call part 2

Josie walked out of the bathroom, rubbing a towel over her wet hair. She stopped when she heard movement coming from her living room. Thinking it was an intruder, young woman slowly crept over to the door and peeked in. She let out a gasp, the towel falling out of her hands. The Doctor, the Time Lord she'd been having dreams about was in her living room!

The Time Lord in question turned around at the sound of her gasp. And he had to admit that Josie's picture didn't really do her much justice. She was prettier in person...for a human anyway.

“It's ok, I'm going to hurt you", the Doctor quickly said not wanting her to think he was. He wouldn't blame her for it. Strange man in the living room. Who wouldn't jump to that conclusion? “Are you Josie Turner?”

“I am", Josie confirmed still rather on shock to see the Doctor standing there. All those dreams she'd been having…never prepared her for this meeting. Not even what that Scottish man said to her all those years ago, practically foretelling that she was going to meet the Time Lord...even that hadn't prepared her for meeting the alien face to face.

“I'm the Doctor and I need your help”, the Doctor said. Josie's heart nearly skipped a beat. He was asking her for help. He was asking HER for help! Josie's inner self was doing cartwheels, overjoyed by this. Josie forced herself to remain calm on the outside.

“Help with what?” she asked. _Play dumb_ Josie reminded herself.

“I'm investigating the alien that was found within the spaceship”, the Doctor said “and my...er...source told me that you could help". Getting Josie's ‘help’ with the crash landing was the best way that he could spend time with her and find out why the TARDIS believed that she was important.

“Well I don't know what your source has told you but I doubt I could any help to you”, Josie said “I'm just a shop assistant”.

“My source is never wrong", the Doctor said when Josie didn't answer he added “I have a lot of faith in my source, if she said you'd be able to help then I've got no reason to doubt her".

“But...uh….won't we get into trouble for investigating the alien?” Josie asked keeping up the pretence of being someone who doesn't want to go with a strange man. Though of course, she _did_ want to go but couldn't let that on to the Doctor.

The Doctor shook his head “nah”, he assured her “we'll be in and out before anyone realises that we were even there".

“Well...I suppose I could come along", Josie said. The Doctor grinned at her.

“Fantastic”, he declared before taking hold of her hand and pulling her out of the room. Josie barely had a moment to grab some shoes that were in the hallway and put them on before she was dragged out the backdoor by a rather impatient Time Lord.

Josie’s heart started beating faster the closer they got to the TARDIS. But still she forced herself to stay calm. “Uh why are we going into a police box?” she asked “where’s your car?”

“This is it”, the Doctor replied unlocking the door and tugging her inside. Josie stopped dead, her dark blue eyes widening. She’d seen his latest console room in her dreams but this…this was so much more amazing!

“Wow”, Josie breathed as she walked slowly up the ramp, making sure to touch the railing to unsure that this was indeed actually happening. She went over to the console while the Doctor watched. As much as he wanted see the ‘alien’ at the hospital, he wanted to see her reaction to the TARDIS just that little bit more.

Josie reached out and gently touched the console. The lights brightened and voices started to fill the air. There were so many, both men and women so it was hard to distinguish one voice from another. And then she heard it.

 _“You are the most beautiful thing I’ve ever known”_ Josie’s breath hitched. She knew that voice. It was the first Doctor she had dreamt about. You could say that it was _the_ Doctor.

 _“Good luck”_ came the second Doctor’s voice.

_“Standing by”_

“Three”, Josie said aloud, confusing the Doctor. Since she heard three of the Doctor’s, her ears starting picking out the others from the cacophony on voices that resonated through the air.

_“Ready”_

_“Soon be there”_

_“Just got to lock on to his coordinates”_

_“Across the boundaries that divide one universe from another”_

_“Commencing calculations”_

_“Before I go, I just want to tell you, you were fantastic. Absolutely fantastic”_ the northern accented voice of the latest Doctor said. Josie frowned, she hadn’t heard him say that in her dreams. Does it mean that its something he’ll say in the future? She hoped it wasn’t a foreshadowing of something to come. The ‘before I go’ bit left a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach.

Josie didn’t really have too much time to think over what it could mean as another voice spoke up, a Southern London accent this time. Unlike the others, she didn’t recognise that voice.

_“Wanna break the time limit?”_

Then came another British voice, though this one seemed to have a childish quality.

_“It's a time machine. I can get you back five minutes ago”_

Another voice piped up but this one wasn’t as clear as the others. The only thing Josie could make out with that it had a Scottish accent. She couldn’t be sure but it sounded almost like Scottish man she met when she was a child. Josie didn’t have much chance to really try to listen to it before she passed out, falling backwards. The Doctor quickly caught her. He glanced at the console then back at the unconscious woman concerned. What had happened to make her pass out like that?

That question however was going to have to wait. As was the investigation of the alien at Albion Hospital.  At least until Josie had woken. The Doctor picked her up, carried her out of the console room and headed for the med bay.

~med bay~

The Doctor gently laid Josie onto the bed. He considered the young woman for a moment before he got out his sonic and scanned her. It only took a moment to get the results up onto the tablet. The Doctor quickly looked through them searching for anything that could tell him why she’d passed out. He frowned at the results, aside from slightly higher brainwave activity, there didn’t seem to be anything wrong with her. For all intents and purposes, Josie Turner was a healthy young woman. She shouldn’t have passed out and yet…she did. It seemed like he may just have a bit of a challenge on his hands with A: figuring out why she passed out and B: why the TARDIS deemed her ‘important’.

It was about 20 minutes of waiting for the Doctor when Josie started to stir. “Wha? Where am I?” she asked slowly sitting up.

“You’re in the med bay”, the Doctor replied “gave me quite a scare when you passed out like that”.

Josie looked down embarrassed that she had fainted. She couldn’t help it, all those voices the familiar and unfamiliar…it had just gotten too much. But she couldn’t tell him. Hopefully there would come a time where she’d be able to tell him the truth. If she became a companion that is. Josie had always wanted to become one but of course she wasn’t going to demand to be his companion, that wouldn’t be right. She was going to wait and keep her fingers crossed that he actually asked her.

“Yeah I’m sorry about that”, Josie said quietly “I didn’t mean to faint…it’s just a lot to take in” she gestured around the room, meaning the TARDIS itself.

“Its ok. It _is_ a lot to take in”, the Doctor agreed “and there’s some things I haven’t told you about this place and about me”. 

“What kind of things?” Josie asked though she knew all about the TARDIS and about him being an alien. She only asked just to keep up the pretence of being someone who’d only just met him. Technically she wasn’t pretending as such as this was the first time she’d _physically_ met him. She was just being careful with what she said and ask the questions that he’d expect her to ask.

“Well...this place isn’t really my ‘car’ per say but it is a method of transport”, the Doctor said “it’s a spaceship”.

“A spaceship”, Josie repeated.

“Technically it’s a spaceship/time machine”, the Doctor amended.

“Uh huh”, Josie said “So it’s…alien?”

“Yep”, the Doctor replied popping the p “its called the TARDIS. Time and Relative Dimension in Space”.

“If the TARDIS is alien that means you are too?” Josie asked.

The Doctor nodded “I am”.

Josie considered him “but you look human”, she remarked. It was the one thing about the Doctor that sometimes made her forget that he was an alien. The way he looked remarkably like a human the exception being the strange outfits he sometimes wore.

“No, you look Time Lord. We came first”, the Doctor corrected her.

“Time Lord? Is that your species?” Josie questioned.

“It is”, the Doctor replied “and my ‘source’ is actually my ship. Its sentient”.

“The TARDIS is alive?” Josie asked though like the name of his species, she actually knew this too.

“Yep”, the Doctor answered “you seem to be taking all this very well”, he commented.

“At the moment I am”, Josie said “wait till later when it finally sinks in”. They sat in silence for a moment before the Doctor spoke.

“Do you think you’re up to coming with me to check out the ‘alien’?”

Josie nodded “Yeah, I am”, she replied. She got out of the bed, the Time Lord having to steady her for a moment when she wobbled before they headed back to the console room.


	4. the Doctor comes to call part 3

“You seriously think smacking it with a mallet is going to help?” Josie asked clinging onto the console watching the Doctor do just that when the console started to smoke. And then much to the surprise of Josie, the console stopped smoking.

“Yes, Josie it did help”, the Doctor said rather smugly grinning at her.

“Wipe that stupid grin off your face”, Josie lightly ordered “smug is _not_ a good look on you…Spaceman”.

“Oi!” the Doctor protested.

“You are an alien, hence spaceman”, Josie shot back. The Doctor grumbled under his breath. The black haired girl could’ve sworn he called her ‘Earth Girl’. “Did you just call me ‘Earth Girl’?” she asked.

“Maybe”, the Doctor admitted.

“Oh, you…” Josie let go of the console go for the Doctor with the intention of…actually she had no idea what she was gonna do, she just wanted to get him. The Doctor darted around the console, dodging her grabs. The TARDIS set down with a thud just as Josie managed to grab him. The pair were thrown to the floor, Josie on top of the Doctor.

“You ok?” the Doctor asked.

“Yeah”, Josie replied “what about you? You’re the one who landed on the hard floor”.

“I’m fine”, the Doctor replied “Earth Girl”, he added with a grin earning him a whack on the chest from Josie.

\------------------

“Nice storeroom”, Josie commented when they left the box after it had materialized. She raised a brow when the Doctor shushed his sonic after it made a loud buzzing noise once he’d turned it on. Eventually he got the door open and the pair stepped out into some sort of waiting room and came face to face with at least 20 soldiers.

The moment the soldiers saw them, they leapt to their feet and pointed their guns at them. The Doctor stepped in front Josie protectively. It was a rather tense moment which was broken by a scream. “Defence plan delta!” the Doctor shouted at soldiers “Come on. Move! Move!”

He grabbed Josie’s hand and they ran down the corridor with the soldiers following. The source of the scream was a Japanese woman whom the found cowering on the floor of the mortuary. “It’s alive!” she exclaimed.

“Spread out. Tell the perimeter it's a lockdown”, the Doctor ordered to the men that was behind him. Josie went over to the woman and knelt by her.

“My god. It's still alive”, the woman told her.

“It’s ok”, Josie said grabbing a cloth for the cut on her forehead.

“I swear it was dead”, she insisted.

“It’s all right now. My friend here will sort this out”, Josie said gently dabbing the cloth on the woman’s cut. “I’m Josie. What’s your name?”

“Toshiko”, the woman replied calming down a little.

“Nice to meet you Toshiko”, Josie said politely. 

“What did it look like?” the Doctor asked Toshiko. The woman didn’t have a chance to answer him due to something clattering behind them. Josie stayed with Toshiko while the Doctor dropped to his knees and crawled around a desk. Josie was startled when a pig wearing a spacesuit ran across the room. “Don't shoot!” the Doctor shouted at the solider who was in the room with them. The Time Lord quickly followed after the pig but he was too late to stop another solider from shooting it.

\------------------------------------------------------

Josie, Toshiko and the Doctor stood around the table where the Time Lord had placed the pig’s body. “I just assumed that's what aliens look like, but you're saying it's an ordinary pig from Earth”, Toshiko said.

“More like a mermaid. Victorian showmen used to draw the crowds by taking the skull of a cat, gluing it to a fish and calling it a mermaid. Now someone's taken a pig, opened up its brain, stuck bits on, then they've strapped it in that ship and made it dive bomb”, the Doctor explained.

“The poor thing must’ve been terrified”, Josie said quietly. She reached out, gently touching the pig. The Doctor could see how upset she was over the pig dying. So while Toshiko was distracted, he took her hand and led her away, back to the TARDIS.

“You ok?” the Doctor asked Josie during the flight through the vortex. He could tell that she was upset over the pig being shot.

Josie shook her head “no, I’m not. How could anyone do that to the pig? It’s so horrible and cruel”, she said. The Doctor had to agree that it was horrible and he’d wished she didn’t see that.

\-----------

When Rose ran into the TARDIS with her mother and Mickey just behind her, she stopped. There was a strange girl sitting on the captain’s seat, watching the Doctor with sparkling eyes.

“Alright so I lied”, the Doctor called over his shoulder “I went and had a look. But the whole crash landing’s a fake. I thought so. Just too perfect. I, mean hitting Big Ben…come on. So I thought…lets go and have a look”.

“Who is she?” Rose demanded, crossing her arms with a small glare.

The Doctor looked up in confusion “What?” he asked. Rose didn’t answer, she just glanced at the black haired woman. The Doctor followed her glance “Oh, that’s Josie. I found her…can I keep her?”

“Excuse me?” Josie snorted “I’m not a stray dog, Spaceman”.

“Sure”, he nodded in mock agreement before he noticed Jackie standing in his TARDIS “Oh, that’s just what I need”, the Doctor grumbled “Dare you dare make this place domestic”, he added warningly to Rose.

“You ruined my life, Doctor”, Mickey accused. The Doctor turned around to face him “They thought she was dead. I was a murder suspect because of you”.

“See what I mean?” The Doctor said to Rose “Domestic”. The Time Lord spins back to face the computer screen. Josie pulled a leg up onto the captain’s chair, resting her chin on her knee, watching Mickey take a couple of steps towards the Doctor.

“I bet you don’t even remember my own name!” he said.

 _I do_ Josie thought _Mickey Smith, the guy who’d got taken by the Wheelie Bin/Nestene Consciousness_.

“Ricky”, the Doctor said not even looking at him.

“It’s Mickey”, Mickey corrected.

“No, it’s Ricky”, the Doctor said adamantly.

“I think I know my own name”, Mickey said crossly.

“You THINK you know your own name?” the Doctor asked “How stupid are you?”

Josie let out a snort as she clapped a hand over her mouth to try and suppress her laughter. The Doctor glanced over at her and grinned. By this time Jackie, who’d been looking around the TARDIS with a bewildered expression, darts out of the blue box completely overwhelmed.

“Mum, don’t!” Rose called after her mother. She turned to the Doctor “Don’t go anywhere”, she to him “especially not with _her_ ” the blonde pointed at Josie “and don’t start a fight”, Rose said to Mickey before she too left the TARDIS.

As soon as she left, Josie hopped off the captain’s chair “you know I’ve been thinking…” she began.

“Careful Earth Girl that can be rather dangerous”, the Doctor said in mock warning.

Josie rolled her eyes “I’ve been thinking”, she repeated “It’s a strange way to invade by putting the world on red alert. You’d have a much better time of taking over the planet if they didn’t make a spectacle by crashing into Big Ben before landing in the Thames”.

“That is a very good point”, the Doctor agreed “so what are they up to?”


	5. the Doctor comes to call part 4

The dark skinned man crouched down to where the Doctor was working under the console “So, what're you doing down there?” Mickey asked him. The Doctor removed the sonic from his mouth. 

“Ricky. If I was to tell you what I was doing to the controls of my frankly magnificent time ship, would you even begin to understand?” the Doctor asked.

“I suppose not”, Mickey answered. 

“Well, shut it, then”

Josie tapped his leg with her foot “rude”, she said. She got a mumbled response from the Time Lord causing her to crouch down “what did you say?” she asked.

The Doctor took the sonic from his mouth “nothing”, he said.

“Right”, Josie said clearly not believing him. She started to stand when the Doctor spoke again.

“Would you like to know what I’m doing?”

“Really?” Josie asked surprised he would even offer considering how rude he was to Mickey.

“Yeah”, the Doctor replied.

“Ok” Josie laid down next to him and the Doctor continued his work while explaining what he was doing. Josie tried to follow along as best as she could. She flinched from the sparks that was emitted but the Doctor was too fazed. In fact he looked happy.

The Doctor got up and helped Josie to her feet. They went around the console to where the scanner was. “That's the spaceship on its way to Earth, see? Except. Hold on. See? The spaceship did a sling shot round the Earth before it landed”, the Doctor explained as they watched the graphic on the screen.

“What does that mean?” Rose asked.

“It means it came from Earth in the first place. It went up and came back down”, the Doctor said.

“The aliens hadn’t just arrived”, Josie added watching the screen “they’ve been here for a while”.

A little later…

Josie, Rose and Mickey watched the Doctor as he switched between channels “How many channels do you get?” Mickey asked.

“All the basic packages”, the Doctor replied.

“You get sports channels?” Mickey asked.

“Yes, I get the football”, the Doctor replied. He stopped on one particular channel when he recognised a group of people “I know that lot”.

“Who are they?” Josie asked.

“UNIT. United Nations Intelligence Taskforce. Good people”, the Doctor replied.

“How do you know them?” Rose questioned.

 _He worked for them_ Josie thought recalling her dreams. Though she refrained from saying out loud as she didn’t want to tell them _how_ she knew that.

“'Cos he's worked for them”, Mickey answered “Oh yeah, don't think I sat on my backside for 12 months, Doctor. I read up on you. You look deep enough on the Internet or in the history books, and there's his name, followed by a list of the dead”.

The Doctor didn’t seemed fazed by that. He kept his focus on the scanner “That's nice. Good boy, Ricky”, he said. 

“If you know them, why don't you go and help?” Rose queried.

“They wouldn't recognise me. I've changed a lot since the old days. Besides, the world's on a knife-edge. There's aliens out there and fake aliens. We want to keep this alien out of the mix. I'm going undercover…and eh, I'd better keep the TARDIS out of sight. Ricky! You've got a car-you can do some driving”. 

“Where to?” Mickey asked rather annoyed that the Doctor wouldn’t even call him by his proper name.

“The roads are clearing. Let's go and have a look at that spaceship”, the Doctor replied.

The four of them stepped out of the TARDIS and were immediately blinded by a helicopter’s search light. The time travellers were surrounded by police and soldiers.

“Raise your hands above your head. You are under arrest”, a voice ordered over a loudspeaker.

“Raise your hands above your head. You are under arrest”, a voice ordered over a loudspeaker.

“Take me to your leader”, the Doctor said after raising his hands.

“Seriously?” Josie said also raising her hands.

“Couldn’t resist Earth Girl”, The Doctor said. Josie rolled her eyes at his continued use of the moniker.

\--------------

“This is a bit posh. If I knew it was going to be like this, being arrested, I would have done it years ago”, Rose commented taking in the car’s interior.

“Rose we're being escorted, not arrested”, the Doctor said correcting her.

“Where to?” Rose asked.

“Where'd you think? Downing Street”, the Doctor said sounding rather excited.

“So why are we going to Downing Street?” Rose questioned.

“I hate to say it, but Mickey was right. Over the years I've visited this planet a lot of times, and I've been…uh…noticed”, the Doctor admitted.

Josie bit her lip to prevent a snort from coming out. She was all too aware of that fact due to her dreams. “So…we’re being escorted to Downing Street because you’re an expert on aliens”, she stated.

“I’m not just an expert, Earth Girl…I’m _the_ expert”, the Doctor corrected her.

“You just have to be, dontcha Spaceman?” Josie teased and the Time Lord grinned at her. Rose on the other hand, scoffed under her breath. She didn’t like the fact that the Doctor seemed to be getting along really well with an apparent stranger.

“Who's the Prime Minister now?” Rose asked.

“Tony Blair”, Josie replied. 

When the car pulled up to 10 Downing Street, the trio exited to cameras taking their photographs. The trio joins the group of people, the alien experts were gathered. A man standing by a door, Indra Ganesh, was handing out ID cards to the experts as they filed through into another room. “Here is your ID card”, he said giving one to the Doctor. The man turned to Josie holding out an ID card for her “here’s your one miss”. Josie took it a bit confused as to why she had clearance. She wasn’t an alien expert, unlike the Doctor of the people from UNIT. “I'm sorry, but your other companion doesn't have clearance”, Indra added nodding to Rose.

“Why do I have clearance then?”  Josie asked.

“You’re Josie Tuner, right?” Indra asked.

“Yes I am”, Josie confirmed.

“A man from UNIT turned up about a couple of hours ago and told me that I was to give you clearance. He stated that you and the Doctor were the top alien experts”, the man explained. He’d been very surprised when an older Scottish man with bushy eyebrows showed up and told him that he was to give clearance to Josie Turner, stating that she was second to the Doctor when it came to aliens. Unlike the Doctor, he’d never heard of the young woman.

In all honesty seeing the girl now, she looked far too young to be an expert. He found it hard to believe what the Scottish man had said but if he claimed that the girl was an expert and was entitled to be in the meeting, who was he to argue?

“I don't go anywhere without both of them”, the Doctor insisted.

Rose looked at him incredulously. Had he forgotten that he just picked up a complete stranger…took _her_ to see the alien instead of herself, his companion? “You're the code nine”, Indra said “I'm sorry, Doctor, your blonde friend has to stay outside”

“It's all right. You two go”, Rose said though she was very, very annoyed that _Josie_ was allowed and she wasn’t. whoever that ‘Scottish man’ was from UNIT needs his head examined. Josie was not an alien expert. Doubt she’d even heard of the Doctor until now. An older woman approached them but the man who gave them the ID cards just waved her away.

“What’s your name?” Josie said as the Doctor went through the door to join the meeting. The man was surprised that she even asked but told her anyway.

“Indra Ganesh”

“Nice to meet you Indra”, Josie said giving him a smile. She entered the room and sat down next to the Doctor. She picked up the booklet and a slip of paper fell out. Josie bent down and picked it up. On the paper was a short note addressed to her. 

_Little dreamer, use ID card on Slitheen’s collar. It can hurt them._

Josie frowned at it confused. _What’s that supposed to mean? And what on Earth is a Slitheen?_

“Now, ladies and gentlemen, if I could have your attention, please”, General Asquith said catching her’s and everyone else’s attention “As you can see from the summaries in front of you, the ship had one porcine occupant…”

“Of course, the really interesting bit happened three days ago, see”, the Doctor said interrupting him. He stood up and walked toward the front desk talking “filed away under ‘Any Other Business’. The North Sea. A satellite detected a signal, a little blip of radiation, at one hundred fathoms, like there's something down there” he turned around to face everyone in the room “You were just about to investigate and the next thing you know, this happens. Spaceships, pigs, massive diversion. From what?”

Josie glanced around the room at all the experts. _Why gather all the experts in one room?_ Unless….her eyes widened when it hit her “it’s a trap”, she breathed.

The Doctor also realised at the same time she did “This is all about us” all the experts looked intrigued “Alien experts, the only people with knowledge how to fight them gathered together in one room” There was a rather loud fart from the man, Joseph Green, sitting down at the front desk. “Excuse me, do you mind not farting while I'm saving the world?” the Doctor said clearly not impressed.

“Would you rather silent but deadly?” Joseph retorted smirking. Everyone in the room stared as the general removed his cap and starts to unzip his forehead, Joseph laughing manically as the general did so. Josie wanted to look away from the sight in front of her but she couldn’t.

“We are the Slitheen”, General Asquith rasped when he was fully out of his skin suit.

Joseph stood up and pulled something out of his pocket. “Thank you all for wearing your ID cards. They'll help to identify the bodies”, he said pressing a button. The ID cards emit electric shocks to everyone. Everyone except Josie.

She watched in shock as everyone around her was being electrocuted including the Doctor. _What do I do? What do I do?_ Josie frantically thought. There had to be a way to stop the Slitheen….her eyes widened when it hit her. The note! It had told her what to do!

Gripping the ID card tightly in her hand, she darted towards one of the Slitheen, ignoring the Doctor’s rather strained shouts for her to stop. Josie slammed the ID onto the collar around the neck of Asquith the Slitheen. Both he and Joseph howl in pain as they’re both electrocuted. “Take that ugly”, she spat glaring at them before she hurried over to the Doctor’s side. She grabbed his arm and with some effort managed to haul him to his feet.

They went out to the reception area were armed soldiers were waiting “Oi! If you want aliens, you've got them”, the Doctor said to them “They're inside Downing Street” he claps his hands “Come on!”

The armed police followed him and Josie back to the briefing room where unfortunately both Slitheens were back in their skin suits. “Where have you been?” Joseph demanded “I called for help. I sounded the alarm. There was this…lightening, this kind of er…um…electricity, and they all collapsed!”

The police men check all the experts for a pulse “I think they're all dead”, Sergeant Price stated.

“That's what I'm saying. They did it!” Joseph said pointing at the Doctor and Josie “That man and woman there!”

“I think you will find the Prime Minister is an alien in disguise”, the Doctor said. Joseph folds his arms sceptically. “That's never going to work, is it?” he asked Josie.

“I’m afraid not”, she reluctantly answered.

“Fair enough”, the Doctor said. He grabbed her hand and then they ran.

They didn’t manage to get very far when they came face to face with several armed men. Another group of soldiers came up behind the time travellers. General Asquith pushed his way through the soldiers. “Under the jurisdiction of the Emergency Protocols, I authorise you to execute this man and the woman”, he ordered.

The armed police men ready their guns. “Well, now, yes, you see, eh… the thing is, if I was you… if I was going to execute someone by backing them against the wall, between you and me, little word of advice” there was a ding and the door opened behind Josie and the Doctor “Don't stand them against the lift!”

The Doctor pulled Josie backwards into the lift and closed the door using his sonic screwdriver. “That was a close one. is it always like this?” Josie keeping up the pretence. She knew 80% of his adventures were always like this one.

“Pretty much”, the Doctor replied “Josie…I was wondering, when this is over would you like to come with me?” he asked, hoping she would say yes so he could figure out why the TARDIS had brought him to her in the first place.

Josie’s inner self squealed with excitement. This is what she’s always wanted! On the outside she maintained a fairly calm composure, though it was very difficult to do so. “Really?” she asked “Is it like a one trip kind of deal or..?”

“No, you can stay as long as you want”, the Doctor said.

Josie smiled “I’d love to! Thank you Doctor!” she hugged him happily.

“Your welcome Earth Girl”, the Doctor said happy that she said yes.

“You’re going to keep calling me that aren’t you?” Josie asked.

“You called me Spaceman first remember?” the Doctor reminded her.

“Yeah but I…” Josie broke off when the lift doors suddenly open revealing Margret the Slitheen. Behind her they could see Rose and an older woman trying to get into a room. Margret roars at the pair but the Doctor just smiled pleasantly at her.

“Hello!” he said cheerfully and closed the lift doors again.

The Doctor and Josie got off the lift when it stopped again, this time on the second floor. They made their way along the hallway and down a step of stairs. The Doctor and Josie stopped they heard the lift dinging. The Doctor took Josie over to a crevice between the wall and the door.

They stayed quiet at two Slitheen walked past, talking.

“It does us good to hunt. Purifies the blood”       

“We'll keep this floor quarantined as our last hunting ground before the final phase”, Joseph added.

The Doctor let go of Josie when they’d gone. The pair went in the same direction as the Slitheen hoping to find Rose. “Which room is she in?” Josie asked. She got her answer in the form of a scream. It was coming from the room ahead. The Doctor grabbed the fire extinguisher sitting near the door and burst in. He sprays the two Slitheen closest to the door with it.

“Out, with me!” he shouted. Rose yanked the curtain down over the Slitheen near to her and ran out, an older woman following. After a quick introduction of the woman whom introduced herself as Harriet Jones, the four of them ran. “We need to head to the Cabinet Room”, the Doctor told them.

“The Emergency Protocols are in there. They give instructions for aliens!” Harriet exclaimed.

“Harriet Jones, I like you”, The Doctor remarked.

“And I like you too”, Harriet said.

During their run, the Doctor bypassed a locked door with his sonic and they all run into the Cabinet room, Josie making sure the shut and lock the door behind them. The Doctor ran over to the doorway and snatched up a decanter of alcohol from the table. He holds his sonic against it as the aliens approached “One more move and my sonic device will triplicate the flammability of this alcohol. Whoof! We all go up. So back off”

The alien trio did so “Right then. Question time. Who exactly are the Slitheen?” the Doctor asked.

“They're aliens”, Harriet stated.

“Yes. I got that, thanks”, the Doctor said slightly sarcastic.

“Who are you, if not human?” Joseph asked.

“Who's not human?” Harriet asked.

“He's not human”, Josie told Harriet.

“He's not human?” Harriet repeated.

“Can I have a bit of hush?” the Doctor asked wanting to get back to his questioning.

“Sorry”, Harriet said apologetically.

“So, what's the plan?” the Doctor questioned.

“But he's got a Northern accent”, Harriet protested. Josie rolled her eyes, getting a little annoyed at her interruptions.

“Lots of planets have a north”, Josie said earning a weird look from Rose. _How did she know that?_ The blonde thought. That was something the Doctor had said when she asked about his accent. But it wasn’t possible for Josie to know was it? She only knew him for like…five minutes!

“I said hush. Come on!” the Doctor held the decanter of alcohol threateningly out in front of him “You've got a spaceship hidden in the North Sea. It's transmitting a signal. You've murdered your way to the top of government. What for, invasion?”

“Why would we invade this God-forsaken rock?” Asquith asked.

“Then something's brought the Slitheen race here. What is it?” the Doctor queried.

“The Slitheen race?” General Asquith asked sounding rather offended.

“Slitheen is not our species. Slitheen is our surname”, Joseph said correcting the Doctor “Jocrassa Fel Fotch Pasameer-Day-Slitheen at your service”.

“That’s a bit of a mouthful”, Josie commented.

“So, you're family”, the Doctor said nodding.

“It’s a family business”, Joseph said.

“Then you're out to make a profit. ‘How can you do that on a God-forsaken rock’?” the Doctor asked.

“Ahhh…excuse me?” Asquith said gesturing to the decanter “Your device will do what? Triplicate the flammability…?”

“Is that what I said?” the Doctor asked innocently.

“You're making it up”, Asquith accused.

“Ah, well! Nice try. Harriet, have a drink. I think you're gonna need it” the Doctor held out the decanter not noticing that she had her arms full with the red case she was clutching.

“You pass it to the left first”, she informed him.

“Sorry” he hands it to Josie.

“Now we can end this hunt…with a slaughter” Asquith flexed his claws menacingly.

“Don't you think we should run?” Josie asked the Doctor.

“Fascinating history, Downing Street. Two thousand years ago, this was marsh land. 1730, it was occupied by a Mr Chicken. He was a nice man. 1796, this was the Cabinet Room. If the Cabinet's in session and in danger, these are about the four most safest walls in the whole of Great Britain” the Doctor lifted a panel and pressed a button “End of lesson”.

Metal shutters slammed down in front of the doors and around the windows “Installed in 1991. Three inches of steel lining every single wall. They'll never get in”

“And how do we get out?” Josie asked.

There was a pause. “Ah”, the Doctor said releasing that while the Slitheen couldn’t get in the room, they couldn’t get out. Not with the metal shutters covering the doors and windows.


	6. the Doctor comes to call part 5

“Right, what have we got? Any terminals, anything?” the Doctor asked as they gathered around the table.

Harriet shook her head “No. This place is antique”, she replied.

“What I don't get is, when they killed the Prime Minister, why didn't they use him as a disguise?” Josie asked.

“They're big old beasts. They need to fit inside big humans”, the Doctor replied.

“But the Slitheen are at least 8 feet tall!” Josie said in surprise “How do they fit inside?”

“That's the device around their necks. Compression field” the Doctor explained “Literally shrinks them down a bit. That's why there's all that gas. It's a big exchange”.

“Wish I had a compression field”, Rose commented “I could fit a size smaller”. Josie frowned at her, this wasn’t the time to be making jokes! People were dead for Christ sake!

As if Harriet had heard what she was thinking, she said “Excuse me, people are dead! This is not the time for making jokes” in a tone of voice which all but scolded the blonde.

“Sorry. You get used to this stuff when you're friends with him” Rose nodded to the Doctor who’d by this point moved over to the walls to scan with his sonic.

“Well, that's a strange friendship” Harriet remarked.

 “Harriet Jones, I’ve heard that name before. Harriet Jones. You’re not famous for anything, are you?” the Doctor asked.

“Hardly”, Harriet muttered.

“Rings a bell. Harriet Jones…” the Doctor said to himself.

“Lifelong backbencher, I’m afraid”, Harriet said “And fat lot of use I’m being now, the protocols are redundant. They list people who can help and they’re all dead downstairs”.

“Hasn’t it got like, defence codes and things? Can we just launch a nuclear bomb at them?” Rose asked causing not only Harriet to stare at her but Josie as well. _What is wrong with her?_ The black haired woman thought. This wasn’t the Rose she’d seen in her dreams. Then again she’d only had like three dreams with the blonde featured so she couldn’t really say for sure what she was like entirely.

“You’re a very violent young woman…” Harriet remarked.

“I’m serious! We could!” Rose insisted.

“Well, there’s nothing like that in here”, Harriet said going through the contents of the red case “Nuclear strikes do need a release code, yes. But that’s kept secret by the United Nations”.

The Doctor stopped scanning the mantelpiece with his sonic to listen “say that again”

“What, about the codes?” Harriet asked.

“Anything”, the Doctor replied “All of it”.

“Um, well…the British Isles can't gain access to atomic weapons without a Special Resolution from the UN”, Harriet told him.

“Like that's ever stopped them”, Josie commented.

“Exactly, given our past record. And I voted against that, thank you very much”, Harriet said “The codes have been taken out of the government's hands and given to the UN. Is it important?”

“Everything's important”, the Doctor said.

“If we only knew what the Slitheen wanted. Listen to me, I'm saying ‘Slitheen’ as if it's normal”, Harriet said.

“What do they want, though?” Josie asked.

“Well, they're just one family, so it's not an invasion”, the Doctor replied, his mind working through the possibilities “They don't want Slitheen World…they're out to make money. That means they want to use something. Something here on Earth…some kind of asset”. 

“Like what? Gold? Oil? Water?” Josie suggested listing off a few suggestions.

“Not sure. But those a good suggestions Earth Girl”, the Doctor said.

“Thanks”, Josie said pleased though she was still irked at the fact he was _still_ calling her Earth Girl.

A phone suddenly beeped “Oh, that's me”, Rose said pulling her phone out.

“But we're sealed off. How did you get a signal?” Harriet asked.

“He zapped it! Super phone”, Rose said. _Ah, the universal roaming_ Josie thought. Being able to call from anywhere in Time and Space sounded like a very good and very cool idea. Probably would make the phone work really well on Earth too…no more crappy signal.

“Then we can phone for help! You must have contacts”, Harriet said hopeful.

“Dead downstairs, yeah”, the Doctor said.

“It's Mickey”, Rose checking the ID on her phone.

“Oh, tell your stupid boyfriend we're busy”, the Doctor grumbled. This wasn’t the time for a social call.

“Yeah, he's not so stupid after all”, Rose said showing them the phone. On the screen was a picture of a Slitheen.

“No, no, no, no, no. Not just alien, but like, proper alien. All stinking, and wet, and disgusting. And more to the point, it wanted to kill us!” Mickey exclaimed when Rose rung him up.

“I could've died!” Jackie cried. 

“Is she all right, though? Don't put her on, just tell me”, Rose said.

The Doctor snatched the phone from Rose “Is that Ricky?” he asked “Don't talk, just shut up and go to your computer”.

“It's Mickey”, Mickey said correcting him “and why should I?”

“Mickey the Idiot, I might just choke before I finish this sentence, but, er, I need you…” the Doctor told Mickey to go onto the UNIT website.

“It says password”, Mickey said.

The Doctor plugged the phone into the conference phone speaker “Say again”

“It's asking for the password”, Mickey repeated.

“Buffalo. Two Fs, one L”, the Doctor said.

“So, what's that website?” Jackie asked Mickey.

“All the secret information known to mankind” Mickey answered “See, they've known about aliens for years. They just kept us in the dark”.

“Mickey, you were born in the dark”, the Doctor said.

“Oh, leave him alone”, Rose said defending her boyfriend.

“Thank you. Password again”

“Just repeat it every time”, the Doctor replied. “Big Ben. Why did the Slitheen go and hit Big Ben?” he asked.

“You said to gather the experts, to kill them”, Harriet replied.

“That lot would've gathered for a weather balloon. You don't need to crash land in the middle of London”, the Doctor said.

“The Slitheen were hiding and then they put the entire planet on red alert. What would they do that for?” Josie asked. Before the Doctor could answer her, Jackie interrupted.

“Well, I've got a question, if you don't mind. Since that man walked into our lives, I have been attacked in the streets. I have had creatures from the pits of hell in my own living room, and my daughter disappear off the face of the Earth”

“I told you what happened”, Rose said.

“I'm talking to him. 'Cos I've seen this life of yours, Doctor. And maybe you get off on it, and maybe you think it's all clever and smart, but you tell me” Jackie said “Just answer me this. Is my daughter safe?”

The Doctor stares intently at the phone “I'm fine”, Rose insisted.

“Is she safe?” the Doctor looked up at Rose, his mind immediately going back to that moment where they were trapped with the Gelth “Will she always be safe? Can you promise me that? Well, what's the answer?”

He didn’t answer her. He would try and keep Rose safe, of course he would. But he couldn’t make that promise to Jackie because there was no guarantee that he could keep her daughter safe. The only way to make sure that she was always safe, would be if she stopped travelling with him. And somehow he didn’t think Rose would give it up any time soon.

His thoughts were broken when Mickey told them that he’d gotten onto the website. The Doctor gave him instructions and soon they were listening to a strange sound. The Time Lord tried to listen to it but there was an interruption from the door bell ringing on Mickey and Jackie’s end.

“It's him! It's the thing, it's the Slipeen!” Jackie suddenly shouted.

“They've found us”, Mickey added.

“Mickey, I need that signal”, the Doctor urged.

“Never mind the signal, get out! Mum just get out! Get out!” Rose shouted worried for her.

“We can't. It's by the front door”, Mickey said. A moment later he added in a panicked voice “Oh, my God, it's unmasking. It's going to kill us”.

“There's got to be some way of stopping them! You're supposed to be the expert, think of something!” Harriet exclaimed.

“I'm trying!” the Doctor snapped.

“Hey, calm down”, Josie said gently, putting a hand on his arm “to stop them we need to find out their weakness. How do we do that?”

The Doctor looked at her, feeling much calmer than before. “To find out their weakness, we need to find out where they’re from”, the Doctor said, answering her question “So, judging by their basic shape, that narrows it down to five thousand planets within travelling distance. What else do we know about them? Information!”

“They're green”, Rose stated.

“Yep, narrows it down”

“Good sense of smell”, Josie supplied.

“Narrows it down”

“They can smell adrenalin”, Rose put in.

“Narrows it down”

“The pig technology”, Harriet added.

“Narrows it down”

“The spaceship in the Thames, you said slipstream engine?” Rose said.

“Narrows it down”

“It's getting in!” Mickey shouted over the phone.

“Oh! They hunt like it's a ritual”, Josie piped up remembering what the Slitheen said.

“Narrows it down”

“Wait a minute”, Harriet piped up “Did you notice? When they fart, if you'll pardon the word, it doesn't just smell like a fart, if you'll pardon the word, it's something else. What is it? It's more like, er…”

“Bad breath!” Rose exclaimed.

“That's it!” Harriet confirmed.

“Calcium decay! Now, that narrows it down!” the Doctor said happily.

“We’re getting there mum!” Rose said into the speaker.

“Too late!” Mickey shouted and they all can hear some sort of commotion on their end of the phone.

“Calcium phosphate, organic calcium, living calcium, creatures made of calcium, what else, what else, hyphenated surname, yes that narrows it down to one planet! Raxacoricofallapatorius!”

“Try saying that after you’ve had a few drinks”, Josie said, trying to lighten the mood. 

The Doctor instructed Mickey to go to his kitchen to look for anything with vinegar. “What do you need?” Jackie asked having taken the phone from Mickey after he couldn’t find anything with vinegar in it.

“Anything with Vinegar!” the Doctor answered.

Jackie listed off items over the phone as she added them to the plastic jug. “You kiss this man?” the Doctor asked Rose who just ignored him. The six of them listened as there was a crash followed by what sounded like a muffled fart and explosion.

“Mickey, mum are you two ok?” Rose asked.

“We’re fine” came Jackie’s voice which relieved Rose.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“He's making it up. There's no weapons up there, there's no threat. He just invented it”, the Doctor said after listening to the news through the speaker.

“Do you think they'll believe him?” Harriet asked.

“They did last time”, Rose replied.

“That's why the Slitheen went for spectacle. They want the whole world panicking, because you lot, you get scared, you lash out”, the Doctor said.

“They release the defence codes….”, Rose began.

“And the Slitheen go nuclear”, Josie finished, working it out.

“But why?” Harriet asked.

Instead of answering her, the Doctor went over to the metal door, with everyone else following, and opened it “You get the codes, release the missiles, but not into space because there's nothing there. You attack every other country on Earth. They retaliate, fight back. World War Three. Whole planet gets nuked”

“And you can sit in your spaceship that is parked in the Thames”, Josie added coming to stand beside the Doctor.

“Precisely”, Margret said sounding pleased about it.

“But you'll destroy the planet, this beautiful place. What for?” Harriet asked.

“Profit. That's what the signal is beaming into space. An advert”, the Doctor said

“The sale of the century. We reduce the Earth to molten slag, then sell it piece by piece. Radioactive chucks, capable of powering every cut-price star liner and budget cargo ship. There's a recession out there, Doctor. People are buying cheap. This rock becomes raw fuel”, Margret the Slitheen said rather pleased.

“Do you realise that there’s billions of people on this planet? And you’re willing to commit genocide for profit?” Josie said shaking her head in disgust.

“We’ve done far worse”, Margaret told her. 

“I give you a choice. Leave this planet or I'll stop you” the Doctor said serious. All the Slitheen burst out laughing.

“What, you? Trapped in your box?” Margret asked.

“Yes. Me” with that the Doctor pressed a button making the metal door slide shut again.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 “All right, Doctor. I'm not saying I trust you, but there must be something you can do”, Jackie said rather reluctantly.

“If we could ferment the port, we could make acetic acid”, Harriet suggested.

“Mickey, any luck?” Rose asked her boyfriend.

“There's loads of emergency numbers. They're all on voicemail”, Mickey replied.

“Voicemail dooms us all”, Harriet moaned.

“If we could just get out of here”, Josie said looking around.

“There's a way out”, the Doctor said. 

“What?” Rose asked turning to face him incredulously.

“There's always been a way out”, the Doctor said.

“So why don't we use it?” Josie asked.

“Because I can't guarantee your daughter will be safe”, the Doctor said into the speaker.

“Don't you dare. Whatever it is, don't you dare”, Jackie said. She did not want to lose Rose.

“That's the thing. If I don't dare, everyone dies”, the Doctor said.

“Do it”, Rose said.

The Doctor looked up at her.  “You don't even know what it is. You'd just let me?” he asked.

“Yeah”, Rose said simply.

“Me too”, Josie agreed. She’d seen him make tough choices in her dreams and he comes out of it alright, most of the time. Regardless, she still trusted him.

“Please, Doctor. Please. She’s my daughter, she just a kid”, Jackie pleaded.

“Do you think I don't know that? Because this is my life, Jackie. It's not fun, it's not smart, it's just standing up and making a decision because nobody else will”, the Doctor said.

Josie’s heart ached to see him upset. She placed a hand on his arm “Then what are you waiting for?” she asked softly.

“I could save the world but lose you”, the Doctor replied looking at her “both of you”, he added glancing at Rose. 

“Except it's not your decision, Doctor. It's mine”, Harriet said.

“And who the hell are you?” Jackie demanded.

“Harriet Jones, MP for Flydale North. The only elected representative in this room, chosen by the people for the people. And on behalf of the people, I command you. Do it”

The Doctor looked back at Josie who smiles and nods. “So how do we get out?” Josie asked.

“We don't. We stay here”, the Doctor replied. He then told Mickey to do.

“How solid are these?” Harriet asked checking the walls.

“Not solid enough. Built for short range attack, nothing this big”, the Doctor replied.

“All right, now I'm making the decision. I'm not going to die. We're going to ride this one out. It's like what they say about earthquakes. You can survive them by standing under a doorframe. Now, this cupboard's small so it's strong”, Rose explained.

“We can ride out the explosion in the cupboard”, Josie added.

“Exactly”, Rose agreed. She and Josie then started to empty the cupboard to make room for the four of them.

“Harriet we could use your help here!” Josie called as the woman hadn’t moved. After she said that however, the older woman did join them in emptying out the cupboard. Once finished they all get inside the cupboard, linking hands with one another.  

“Nice knowing you”, Harriet said taking hold of Rose’s hand “Hannibal!” she shouts as they brace themselves.

BOOM!

Josie closed her eyes, tightening her grip on the Rose’s hand as the cupboard rolled around several times before coming to a stop. “Made in Britain!” Harriet cheered after the Doctor pushed the door off the Cabinet Room. They all clambered out, one after another. “Oh, my God. Are you all right?” a soldier asked running up to them. Harriet pulled out her ID.

“Harriet Jones. MP, Flydale North. I want you to contact UN immediately. Tell the ambassadors the crisis is over. They can step down. Go on, tell the news”

“Yes, ma'am”, the soldier said. 

“Someone's got a hell of a job sorting this lot out. Oh, Lord. We haven't even got a Prime Minister”

“Maybe you should have a go”, the Doctor suggested.

“Me? I'm only a back-bencher”, Harriet said waving off their suggestion.

“I'd vote for you”, Rose said.

“Same here”, Josie agreed.

“Now, don't be silly. Look, I'd better go and see if I can help. Hang on!”

The three of them watched Harriet talking to a crowd of people for a moment before turning and walking off “I thought I knew the name”, the Doctor says as they walked.

“Who?” Josie asked.

“Harriet Jones. Future Prime Minister. Elected for three successive terms, the architect of Britain’s Golden Age”

Sometime later…

Josie walked along the pavement shifting the holdall on her shoulder. When she rounded the corner a smile appeared on her face as the TARDIS was sitting there waiting for her. She didn’t even have to knock when the door swung open on its own. The black haired young woman took one last look around at her surroundings knowing it was going to be a while before she was home again “goodbye London, hello everything”, she said. She turned back to the TARDIS and stepped inside.


	7. Living nightmare part 1

When the TARDIS next materialised it was in a large, darkened room. “Where are we?” Rose asked looking around after she, Josie and the Doctor stepped out of the box. It was a little difficult to see their surroundings as there were no lights on.

“Earth. Utah, North America. About half a mile underground”, the Doctor replied. They’d been on their way to the Horse Head Nebula to witness a plasma storm when the TARDIS was suddenly drawn off course.

“When exactly are we?” Josie questioned.

“2012”, the Doctor answered. 

“God, that's so close”, Rose remarked “So I should be about….26?”

“I’d be about 28”, Josie said working it out. There was 7 years difference between 2005 and 2012. Since they’d just left 05 and she was 21…in 2012 she would be 28 years old.

”, Josie said. Light flooded the place as the Doctor found the light switch and flicked it on.

“Blimey! It's a great big museum”, Rose said seeing the display cases around them.

“An Alien Museum”, the Doctor corrected walking past cases “Someone's got a hobby. They must have spent a fortune on this. Chunks of meteorite, moon dust…that's the milometer from the Roswell spaceship” he named them as he passes the cases. 

Rose and Josie noticed something familiar in one of the cases “That's a bit of Slitheen! That's a Slitheen's arm”, Rose said.

“And it’s…ugh… stuffed”, Josie added disgusted.

“Ah! Look at you!” the Doctor said seeing something else in another case.

“What is it?” Rose asked looking at what appeared to be a robot head with handlebars on top. Josie looked at the robot head and froze. She’d seen a lot alien beings in her dreams. Some good, some bad. And that robot head belonged to one of the bad ones. A Cyberman. Nothing scared her more…well almost nothing…the Daleks were the _worst_ and still give her nightmares to this day.  The black haired woman barely supressed a shudder at the thought of the evil pepper pots. Thank god the Doctor had decided to do what he did. Though she wished he hadn’t had destroyed his home…his people too. There were some many innocent men, woman and children that didn’t deserve to die. _Sometimes the only choices are bad ones…but you still have to choose_ Josie thought. The Doctor had made the impossible choice and in doing so many planets and their inhabitants were saved from the horrors of the Time War.

“An old friend of mine…well, enemy. The stuff of nightmares reduced to an exhibit. I'm getting old”, the Doctor replied. Josie cast a glance at him. Though she knew he was 900 years old, he didn’t _look_ that age but that was purely due to the body he currently had.

“Is that where the signal's coming from?” Josie questioned nodding to the robot head, really, really hoping that wasn’t the case. She didn’t think she could handle it if she had to face a Cyberman in real life. 

“Nah, its stone dead. The signal's alive. Something's reaching out, calling for help” he places the tip of his finger on the glass. Immediately an alarm and they’re promptly surrounded by soldiers all pointing their guns at the trio.

“If someone's collecting aliens, that makes you Exhibit A”, Rose said putting her hands up.

They were promptly escorted into an office by a ginger, curly haired woman named Diana Goddard.

“What does it do?” Van Statten asked Adam who was showing him his latest purchase.

“Well, you see the tubes on the side? It must be to channel something. I think maybe fuel”, Adam guessed.

“I really wouldn't hold it like that”, the Doctor cut in seeing how Van Statten was holding the item in his hands.

“Shut it”, Godard snapped. _Rude_ Josie thought.

“Really, though, that's wrong”, the Doctor insisted.

“Is it dangerous?” Adam asked.

“No, it just looks silly”, the Doctor replied reaching for the item. Several security personnel readied their weapons making him pause. Van Statten held up a hand, signalling the men to lower their weapons. He then handed the object to the Doctor. “You just need to be...” the Time Lord gently stroked the item and it made a pleasant noise “Delicate”.

“It’s a musical instrument”, Josie said eyeing it “can I?” she asked holding her hand out for it. The Doctor handed it to her. She tried it out, managing to place a couple of notes.

“Not bad”, the Doctor said nodding his approval.

“Thanks”, Josie said. Rose just rolled her eyes. So Josie could make the instrument work. Big whoop.

Van Statten snatched it from Josie and tried to do the same but harsher sounds were produced instead. “I did say delicate. It reacts to the smallest fingerprint. It needs precision”, the Doctor said.

Van Statten changed his touch on the instrument and pleasant sounds “Very good. Quite the expert”, the Doctor said.

“As are you”, Van Statten said.

Much to the dismay of the Doctor and Josie, he carelessly tossed the instrument aside.  “Who exactly are you?” Van Statten asked.

“I'm the Doctor. And who are you?” the Doctor asked with a new disdainful look in his eye.

“Like you don't know. We're hidden away with the most valuable collection of extra-terrestrial artefacts in the world, and you just stumbled in by mistake”, Van Statten.

“Pretty much sums me up, yeah”, the Doctor confirmed.

“The question is, how did you get in? 53 floors down, with your little cat burglar accomplices” the man looked at both Rose and Josie “You’re quite a collector yourself, they’re rather pretty”.

“This is Mr Henry Van Statten”, Adam introducing the American man.

“And who's he when he's at home?” Rose asked.

“Mister Van Statten owns the internet”, Adam said.

Josie snorted “Don't be stupid. _No one_ owns the internet”, she scoffed.

“And let's just keep the whole world thinking that way, right kids?”  Van Statten said.

“So, you're just about an expert in everything except the things in your museum. Anything you don't understand, you lock up”, the Doctor said.

“And you claim greater knowledge?” Van Statten asked.

“I don't need to make claims, I know how good I am”, the Doctor said.

“And yet, I captured you. Right next to the Cage. What were you doing down there?” Van Statten asked.

“You tell me”, the Doctor said.

“The cage contains my one living specimen”, Van Statten explained. Josie could almost hear the pride in his voice.

“And what's that?” the Doctor asked.

“Like you don't know”

“Show me”, the Doctor challenged.

“You want to see it?”

“Blimey, you can smell the testosterone”, Rose commented. Josie agreed wholeheartedly with her comment. Van Statten turned to Goddard.

“Goddard, inform the Cage we're heading down” he then turned his attention to Adam “You, English. Look after the girls” to the Doctor he said “You, Doctor with no name…come and see my pet” with that Van Statten walked towards the lift.

\---------------------------------------------------------------

“Sorry about the mess”, Adam said apologetically when they entered his workshop “Mr Van Statten sort of lets me do my own thing, so long as I deliver the goods” Adam handed Rose a piece of metal “What do you think that is?” 

“Er…a lump of metal?” Rose said unsure what it could be.

“Yeah. Yeah, but I think…well, I'm almost certain, it's from the hull of a spacecraft”, Adam explained “The thing is, it's all true. Everything the United Nations tries to keep quiet, spacecraft, aliens, visitors to Earth. They really exist”.

“That's amazing”, Rose said.

“I know it sounds incredible, but I honestly believe the whole universe is just teeming with life”, Adam said.

 _If only he knew that he’d just met an alien_ Josie thought having a poke around the workshop. “I'm gobsmacked, yeah. And you do what, sit here and catalogue it?” Rose asked smiling slightly.

“Best job in the world”, Adam said sounding rather proud about it. _Doesn’t seem like a fun job, seems rather…boring_ Josie thought _but each to his own._

“Imagine if you could get out there. Travel amongst the stars and see it for real”, Rose said making Josie pause in her examination of a random piece of junk. _Hang on, was she giving him an offer to come with them?_ While Josie herself was relatively new to the whole traveling in the TARDIS but she knew that a companion wasn’t allowed to make an offer like that. The Doctor was the only person who _can_ invite people onboard…considering it is his ship.

“Yeah…I’d give anything. But I don’t think that’s ever gonna happen, not in our lifetimes”, Adam said.

Josie had to smile about how wrong he was. _She_ was starting her journey travelling amongst the stars, not like she’d tell him that thought.

“Oh you never know…” _yep she’s definitely giving him an offer_ “what about all those people who say they’ve been inside spaceships and things and talked to aliens?” Rose asked.

“I think they’re nutters”, Adam replied.

“Yeah me too”, Rose agreed.

“Uh Rose? Could I talk to you for a second?” Josie asked coming over.

“Sure”, Rose said.

Josie took her over to a corner “what do you think you’re doing? Making him an offer like that?” she asked in hushed voice.

“I wasn’t making him an offer”, Rose said.

“Yes you were Rose. You way you spoke about seeing the stars, meeting aliens…you were making him an offer”, Josie said.

“So what if I was? What’s the harm in asking?” Rose asked getting defensive.

“Because I don’t think the Doctor is going to allow any old person in the TARDIS”, Josie said.

“If that were true he wouldn’t have let you onboard”, Rose retorted “ _I_ saved his life when I met him. What exactly did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything. The TARDIS landed in _my_ back garden”, Josie smoothly countered and with that she went back over to the basket she’d been having a look through, not even seeing the glare that the blonde was levelling at her. Rose huffed, she really didn’t like that damn girl! Her gaze drifted over to Adam. _Focus on him_ she thought _try to ignore Josie bloody Turner_. She then walked over to the British boy.

“So how did you end up here?” she asked him, keeping her tone light just so Adam wouldn’t know that she’d just had an argument with Josie.

“Van Statten has agents all over the world looking for geniuses to recruit”, Adam replied.

“Ah, right, you’re a genius”, Rose teased.

“Sorry, but yeah…can’t help it, I was born clever”, Adam said. Josie raised a brow at how smug he seemed to be about that. _Boy someone thinks rather highly on himself_ Josie thought. “When I was 8, I logged onto the US Defence System, nearly caused World War 3”, Adam explained with a laugh.

“That’s not exactly something to laugh about”, Josie said walking over. Having been recently stuck in Downing Street with aliens who wanted to cause WW3, it was hardly a laughing matter to her.

“Well you should’ve been there! Just to see them running about! Fantastic!” Adam said happily.

“You sound like the Doctor”, Rose remarked.

“Are either of you and him…?”

“No, we’re just friends”, Rose said quickly.

“Yeah, just friends”, Josie agreed.

“Good”, Adam said nodding.

“Why’s that good?” Josie said asking the question that was on both hers and Rose’s mind.

“Just is”, Adam said.

 _If he thinks he’s got a shot with me, he can forget it_ Josie thought guessing what Adam was implying. She wasn’t interested in the boy though she could see that Rose kinda was which made her feel bad for Mickey. From what she’d seen in her dreams, Mickey Smith was a decent guy…far too good for Rose. If the blonde messed up her chance with Mickey, she hoped the next girl he fell for was someone who’d treat him properly.

 “So… Adam wouldn't you rather be downstairs?” Rose asked changing the subject “I mean, you've got these bits of metal and stuff, but Mr Van Statten's got a living creature down there”.

“Yeah… Yeah, well, I did ask, but he keeps it to himself. Although, if you're a genius, it doesn't take long to patch through on the comm. system”, Adam said.

“Let's have a look, then”, Rose said.

Josie and Rose watched over Adam’s shoulder as he accessed the camera feed to the cage where Van Statten’s ‘pet’ was being held. The black haired woman’s heart stopped. “It can’t be”, she breathed staring at the screen horrified. Van Statten’s ‘pet’ was a Dalek!


	8. Living nightmare part 2

Josie stepped back, her heart pounding in her chest. She couldn’t believe it. There was a Dalek here! She thought the Doctor had destroyed them all. _If that thing ever got out…_ her stomach churned thinking about all the people who’d die if the Dalek ever got free.

 “It doesn't do much, the alien. It's weird”, Adam said to Rose, neither of them noticing the pale woman behind them who was on the verge of a panic attack “It's kind of useless… It's just like this… great big pepper pot”.

“It's being tortured!” Rose exclaimed as they watched a man take a drill to it, the alien screamed. Behind them, Josie clapped hands over her ears, cringing at the aliens screams…her mind going straight to the dreams of the Time War.

“Hold on, where’s the Doctor?” Rose asked. She knew that Van Statten was going to show the Time Lord his pet but the man wasn’t there.

“I don't know”, Adam said.

“Take me down there now”, Rose demanded and Adam nodded. The blonde then walked out of the room, ignoring the black haired woman. Adam stopped near Josie.

“Hey, we better go after her”, he said gently seeing that she was genuinely panicked. Josie swallowed and nodded. The pair then walked out of the room.    

\----------------------

 “Don't get too close”, Adam warned the girls as they entered the cage. Rose slowly approached the ‘pet’, the last Dalek.  Josie hung back clenching and unclenching her fists, trying desperately not to have a break down or to run out of the room screaming. Neither of those things would help Rose who had no idea what a Dalek was capable of.

“Hello” she said. It didn’t answer her. “Are you in pain? My name's Rose Tyler. I’ve got a friend, he can help. He's called the Doctor. What's your name?”

“Yes”, the Dalek said.

“What?” Rose asked confused. It raised its eye stalk to look at her.

“I am in pain. They torture me, but still… they fear me. Do you fear me?” the Dalek asked.

“No”, Rose replied. She felt sorry for it. Its eye stalk moved to look at Josie and she stiffened.

“You fear me”, the Dalek stated. Josie didn’t confirm its statement, she couldn’t quite form the words just yet. She was still too much in shock of seeing a Dalek with her own eyes. The Dalek lowers its eye stalk “I am dying”, he said quietly.

“No, we can help!” Rose cried.

“I welcome death. But I am glad… that before I die… I met a human who weren’t afraid”, the Dalek said. Rose looked at the Dalek sadly, hating the fact that there wasn’t anything she could do. Josie just looked at the Dalek wordlessly. She wasn’t sad that it was dying. Granted she didn’t like death but the Dalek deserved to die after everything it and the rest of its species had done to the people of Gallifrey.

“Isn’t there anything I can do?” Rose asked.

“My race is dead” the Dalek said quietly “I shall die alone”.

Tears in her eyes, Rose gently placed a hand on the Dalek’s metal dome “Rose, no!” Adam and Josie exclaimed, the latter having just managed to form the words. But it was too late. Where Rose put her hand suddenly burned orange and she snatched her hand back.

“Genetic material extrapolated. Initiate cellular reconstruction!” the Dalek said sounding far more alive. Josie pulled the blonde away as the Dalek burst from its chains. Simmons, the man who’d been torturing the Dalek ran in.

“What the hell have you done?” he demanded. Simmons approached the Dalek who points his sucker at him “Whatcha gonna do?” he asked “sucker me to death?”

 _Poor choice of words_ Josie thought as the Dalek proceeded to do just that. While it was killing Simmons, the trio made their escape.

“It's killing him! Do something!” Rose shouted at Bywater, the guard who was just outside.

“Condition red! Condition red!” he called over the intercom and sounded the alarm.

In the room the Doctor was being held prisoner, both the Time Lord and Van Statten also heard the alarm. “Release me if you want to live”, the Doctor told the American. Van Statten wasted no time in undoing the chains on the Doctor’s wrists.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Doctor, now fully dressed, ran out of the lift followed by Van Statten, Goddard and a few guards. He went straight over to the wall monitor which showed the camera feed of just outside the Cage. The Time Lord noted how Josie was pressed against the far wall, staring at the door, eyes wide. She was scared. “You've got to keep it in that cell”, the Doctor ordered.

Having heard his voice, Rose glanced at the small monitor “Doctor, it's all my fault”, she said, he voice full of guilt.

“I've sealed the compartment. It can't get out, that lock's got a billion combinations”, one of the guards informed them.

“A Dalek's a genius. It can calculate a thousand billion combinations in one second flat”, Josie said her voice shaky. Sure enough the door to the Cage opened mere moments later.

“Open fire!” Bywater ordered. He and the soldiers shot at the Dalek.

“Don't shoot it! I want it unharmed!” Van Statten shouted seeing all this on the monitor.

“Rose, Josie get out of there!” the Doctor called to his companions but the blonde just stood there. Josie darted forward, grabbing hold of Rose by the arm and dragged her away. _Thank you Josie. At least one of you has some sense_ the Time Lord thought. De Maggio hurried after his two companions.

The Dalek glided up to the monitor near to the Cage and smashed it, absorbing the electricity. The alien wails as its damaged outer casing slowly bends back into shape, thanks to the electricity now coursing through it. The rust fades away, bringing the Dalek back to its former glory.

“Abandoning the Cage, sir”, Bywater said into his mouthpiece.

~Office~

“We're losing power. It's draining the base”, Goddard reported as she tapped away on a keyboard, the Doctor and Van Statten watching over her shoulder “Oh, my God. It's draining entire power supplies for the whole of Utah”

“It's downloading”, the Doctor stated.

“Downloading what?” Van Statten asked.

“Sir, the entire West Coast has gone down”, Goddard said looking at the computer screen worriedly.

“It's not just energy”, the Doctor said “That Dalek just absorbed the entire internet. It knows everything”.

“The Daleks survive in me!” they heard the Dalek declare over the audio just before there was a sound of its weapon being fired. Then static.

“The cameras in the vault have gone down”, Goddard said as she tried to check the other feeds.

“We've only got emergency power”, the Doctor stated, trying to ignore how his hearts sped up. With those cameras down they couldn’t see where the Dalek was. And that worried him. Rose and Josie were down there with the alien that he’d consider to be his greatest enemy. “It's eaten everything else. You've got to kill it now!” he said raising his voice.

“All guards to converge in the Metaltron cage, immediately”, Goddard called into the comm.

\------------------------

With De Maggio in the lead, she, Rose, Adam and Josie ran past a group of guards that were on their way to the cage. The moment they’d disappeared down the corridor, Bywater rushed up to the guards. “Cover the north wall”, he ordered “Red division, maintain suppressing fire along the perimeter. Blue division…” he broke off and screamed as the Dalek shot him in the back “argh!”

The other guards fire upon it but the bullets melt before they could even touch the armour. The Dalek exterminates another. More guards appear behind it, surrounding the alien, also shooting at it. But even with the extra men, it did no good. All it did was increase the number of casualties as the Dalek killed them one by one.

\-------------------

Eventually they reached a set of stairs and by this point, Josie was trembling with both adrenaline and fear. She just wanted to get back to the TARDIS already! She wanted to be somewhere safe! _Get it together girl!_ A voice inside her head shouted _you’ve got to focus on the situation at hand. You and Rose are still in danger_. Josie nodded, yes they were still in danger so she couldn’t afford to panic. She had to pull herself together.

“Stairs! That's more like it. It hasn't got legs. It's stuck!” Rose said happily when they reached a set of stairs.

“It's coming! Get up!” De Maggio shouted at them. They hurried up a flight and looked down at the Dalek.

“Great big alien death machine defeated by a flight of stairs”, Adam mocked looking down at the metal alien. Josie whacked him on the arm.

“Don’t be stupid Adam! You think that a set of stairs is gonna stop it? It can hover!” she shouted at him. And sure enough, the Dalek did just that.

 “Adam, get them out of here”, De Maggio ordered as the Dalek glided up the stairs towards them.

“Come with us. You can't stop it”, Rose said to her painfully recalling all those people who died trying to stop the alien when it escaped the room it had been confined in. And it was all her fault. If she hadn’t touched the damn thing, none of this would’ve happened.

“Someone's got to try. Now get out! Don't look back. Just run”, De Maggio ordered. Josie, Rose and Adam raced up the rest stairs. When they reached a corridor, they all heard the sound of a weapon firing and a scream.

The trio then raced across a loading bay where several soldiers were waiting for the Dalek. When Rose, Josie and Adam reached the doorway at the other end, the metal alien entered. The blonde teen paused as it looked straight at her.

“It was looking at me”, she said leaning on the wall in the corridor.

“Yeah, it wants to slaughter us”, Adam said.

“I know, but it was looking right at me”, Rose insisted “It's like there's something inside, looking at me, like…like it knows me”

“Because you touched it?” Josie asked.

“Yeah maybe”, Rose answered.

“Do you think we could possibly have this conversation away from the murderous alien?” Adam asked eager to get as far away from the Dalek as possible. 

~staircase~

Rose phone rang as she, Josie and Adam ran up another set of stairs. “This isn't the best time”, she said answering it.

“Where are you?” the Doctor asked.

“Level 49”, Rose replied.

“You've got to keep moving. The vault's being sealed off up at level forty six”, he said.

“Can't you stop them closing?” Rose asked.

“I'm the one who's closing them. I can't wait and I can't help you. Now for God's sake, run”, the Doctor said. Rose relayed the information to Josie and Adam and they ran faster. The moment they reached level 46 a klaxon sounded. Josie was just ahead of Rose and nearly had reached the bulkhead. The blonde frowned _oh no you don’t_ she thought, reaching out and shoving Josie aside. Startled, the black haired woman stumbled, falling to the floor, Rose’s phone dropping next to her with a clatter. Josie snatched it up, jumped to her feet and dashed for the bulkhead but she was too late. She reached the bulkhead just as it closed.

Josie stared at the metal, breathing heavily, Rose’s phone hanging limply in her hand. She couldn’t believe that Rose had did that. She didn’t think the blonde hated her that much. Disliked her, yes. But hated her? Never. Seems you couldn’t really tell what people were like just by seeing them in your dreams. 

She was broken out of her thoughts when she heard the Doctor’s voice come through the phone. “Rose, did you and Josie make it?” the Doctor asked.

Josie lifted the phone to her ear. “Rose made it but…” she trailed off. Should she tell him that Rose had pushed her and that’s why she was trapped? Or should she just tell him that she was too slow? “Doctor I’m sorry… I was too slow”, Josie lied. Upon hearing those words, a horrible shock spread across the Doctor’s face.

Josie glanced back, seeing the Dalek come around the corner. She knew her time was up. Before the Dalek could kill her, she _had_ to tell him about the dreams. To hell with her worries. He deserved to know the truth. “I guess this is it for me. Don’t you dare blame yourself for this because it wasn’t your fault”, she said, trying to keep her voice from trembling “and you should know…I’ve been having dreams about you since I was a girl. I’ve dreamt about your adventures right from the beginning from when you first stole the TARDIS. I don’t know how or why…but I wanted you to know. I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you before…I was just…afraid of what you might think” she took a shaky breath, casting a glance at the Dalek who was getting closer “Just one more thing. Thank you for letting me travel with you…I’ve want this for so long” a tear rolled down her face as the Dalek was now inches away “Goodbye Doctor”.

She lowered the phone from her ear, closed her eyes and waited for the end.

“Exterminate!”


	9. Living nightmare part 3

The Doctor yanked the earpiece out of his ear after he’d heard the sound of the Dalek’s weapon being fired. “I killed her”, he said quietly, his hearts shattering into a million pieces. She was gone. Josie was gone. The only consolation…if he could even call it that…was that Josie had told him something which gave a hint as to _why_ the TARDIS had deemed her important. And that tiny slip of information was all the answers he was going to get as the girl was now dead…her life cut short by the Dalek.

“I'm sorry”, Van Statten said, his voice full of regret.

The Doctor whipped around to face him angrily “Sorry? You’re Sorry?! I could've killed that Dalek in its cell, but you stopped me!” he said almost in a growl. _Josie_ had looked so scared on the monitor. She must’ve seen the Daleks in her dreams…so she knew what they were capable of. His hearts clenched painfully, the poor girl must’ve been terrified in her last moments.

“It was the prize of my collection!” Van Statten cried.

The Time Lord grew furious. All this guy cared about was his precious collection. He didn’t care about those men who’d died. Van Statten didn’t care that JOSIE was dead. “Your collection? But was it worth it? Worth all those men's deaths? Worth Josie? Let me tell you something, Van Statten. Mankind goes into space to explore, to be part of something greater”

“Exactly!” Van Statten stood up “I wanted to touch the stars!”

“You just want to drag the stars down and stick them underground, underneath tons of sand and dirt, and label them!” the Doctor said spat “You're about as far from the stars as you can get! And you took her down with you?!”

Van Statten actually took a step back, rather afraid of the Doctor. The Time Lord in question turned away, his expression changed from furious to grief-stricken “She was so young”, he added quietly.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Josie opened her eyes cautiously and looked around. She was surprised that she was still alive. “Go on then, kill me”, she said to the Dalek. The woman was met with silence from the alien “Why're you doing this?” she demanded.

“I am armed. I will kill. It is my purpose”, the Dalek said.

“I _know_ it is”, Josie agreed, all too aware of this fact “So what're you waiting for?” she asked her entire body trembling.

“I feel your fear”, the Dalek said. Josie frowned, a little confused at that. _How could it feel her fear?_ Rose was the one who’d touched it. Not her. Besides, Daleks don’t feel fear. They don’t know any other emotion aside from hate.

“Well what did you expect?!” she asked almost hysterically “you fired your death ray at me!”

“Rose gave me life. What else has she given me?” the Dalek asked growing hysterical “I am contaminated!” It fired wildly, hitting the wall either side of her causing the girl to flinch at the closeness of each shot.

When Adam and Rose step out of the lift into Van Statten’s office, the Doctor rounds on them. Or more specifically Adam. “You were quick on your feet, leaving Josie behind”, he said.

“I’m not the one who sealed the vault!” Adam said indignantly.

The computer screen springs to life showing Josie standing next to the Dalek. Rose stared at the black haired girl. She was alive?! But how? That Dalek should’ve killed her!

“Open the bulkhead or she dies”, the Dalek ordered.

“You're alive!” the Doctor exclaimed joy and relief breaking out on his face. At that moment he thanked every deity out there that his Earth Girl was still breathing.

 “Can't get rid of me”, Josie said trying to sound cheery.

“I thought you were dead”

“Open the bulkhead!” the Dalek ordered again.

“Don't do it!” Josie shouted at him. Rose looked at the Doctor wondering what he was going to do. Would he listen to her? Or would he give in to the Dalek’s demands? She secretly hoped that he would choose the former. Maybe then she could be rid of Josie bloody Turner once and for all.

“What use are emotions if you will not save the woman you love?” The Doctor stared at the screen stunned. That wasn’t a question a Dalek would normally ask. They didn’t care about love…they didn’t care about anything except seek…locate…destroy. He turned to Van Statten who looked at him shocked. Even Rose was surprised by the Dalek’s question.

The Doctor went back to the screen “I killed her once. I can't do it again”, he said. He hit a key and the bulkhead door started to open. Rose’s heart sank slightly as she watched him do this. But perhaps there was a tiny glimmer of hope…there was still plenty of time before Josie and the Dalek got to them for the black haired girl to do something that would make the alien kill her.

\----------------------------------------------

Josie stood in the lift next to the Dalek. The atmosphere was rather tense in the enclosed space. It took everything she had not to fidget on the spot. “When we get up there, you can’t kill them”, she said.

The Dalek swung its eye stalk around so fast that Josie had to quickly move as to not get hit. “But why not?” it asked, “My function is to kill”.

“You shot at me but didn’t kill me. So you _can’t_ kill them”, Josie said.

“What I am Josie? What am I?” the Dalek demanded.

“I don’t know”, Josie honestly replied. While she was still rather scared of the whole situation, she couldn’t help be a little intrigued at the fact the Dalek seemed to be questioning itself…like it was changing somehow. It shouldn’t be possible. Daleks don’t change. Ever. And yet…this one appeared to be doing just that. Did Rose’s touch do something to the Dalek other than revive it?

When the lift doors opened, Van Statten and Rose was standing in the office. The Doctor had left his blonde companion behind while Adam took him to the workshop to look for weapons that would work against the Dalek.

“Don't do anything. It's beginning to question itself”, Josie informed them as the Dalek moved towards the man, completely ignoring Rose. The blonde didn’t bother to acknowledge the black haired woman, she kept her focus on Van Statten and the Dalek.

“Van Statten. You tortured me. Why?” the metal alien demanded.

Van Statten backed away, clearly terrified of the Dalek “I wanted to help you. I just…I don't know. I was trying to help. I thought if we could get through to you, if we could mend you…I wanted you better, I'm sorry” his back hit a wall “I'm so sorry! I swear, I just wanted you to talk!”

“Then hear me talk now. Exterminate! Exterminate!” the Dalek cried. Van Statten winces “Exterminate!”

Rose rushed over “Don’t do it! Don’t kill him!” she exclaimed. The Dalek spins to face her “You don't have to do this anymore. There must be something else. Not just killing…what else is there? What do you want?”

The Dalek looks at Van Statten then back to Rose. Its eye piece also shifted to look at Josie who hadn’t moved from the lift. “I want freedom”, the Dalek replied.

It, Rose and Josie got back into the lift and headed for floor one of the museum. While they’re heading upwards in the lift, the Doctor was charging up the stairs clutching the alien gun in his hands desperate to get to Josie before the Dalek decided it didn’t need her anymore.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Dalek stopped in the middle of floor 1 and blasted a hole in the ceiling, allowing light to filter in. “You're out. You made it”, Rose said. She looked up at the hole and smiled “I never thought I'd feel the sunlight again”.

“Me neither”, Josie agreed.

“How… does… it… feel?” the Dalek asked. Rose was going to reply when the casing of the Dalek opened to reveal a one eyed mutant. Both girls watched it hold out watched it hold out one of its feelers toward the sunlight. They both gazed at it until a voice behind them made them both jump.

“Get out of the way”

Rose and Josie turned and saw the Doctor standing there holding a large gun “Rose! Josie get out of the way now!” he demanded.

“No”, Rose said not moving “I won't let you do this”. Josie didn’t move either. She knew what it meant to the Doctor to destroy the last living Dalek…but this one was different. It had changed.

“That thing killed hundreds of people!”

“It's not the one pointing the gun at us”, Rose retorted.

“I've got to do this. I've got to end it. The Daleks destroyed my home, my people. I've got nothing left”, the Doctor said.

“I know”, Josie said “but just look at it”, she said shifting slightly to the side.

“What's it doing?” the Doctor asked confused.

“It's the sunlight, that's all it wants”, Rose said.

“But it can't”, the Doctor said his voice shaking.

“It couldn't kill Van Statten, it couldn't kill Josie. It's changing. What about you, Doctor? What the hell are you changing into?” Rose demanded.

The Doctor lowered the gun looking completely lost. “I couldn’t…” both Rose and Josie stared at him as he started to tear up “I wasn’t…” he looked at the Dalek then back at the girls “oh Rose, Josie. They’re all dead”.

“I know”, Josie repeated softly. The Doctor could see the hidden understanding in her eyes and he knew that she had dreams about the Time War. It made his hearts hurt more that someone else had witnessed what he’d seen…worse what he’d done. And yet she wasn’t looking at him with hatred…instead he could only see sadness in the dark blue eyes. A sadness that matched his own.

“Why do we survive?” the Dalek asked bringing the Doctor out of his thoughts.

“I don't know”, he replied.

“I am the last of the Daleks”, the Dalek said, speech becoming more of an effort now.

“You're not even that. Rose did more than regenerate you. You've absorbed her DNA. You're mutating”

“Into what?” the Dalek managed to say.

“Something new. I'm sorry”, the Doctor said apologetically.

“Isn't that better?” Rose asked.

“Not for a Dalek”, the Doctor said. 

“I can feel so many ideas. So much darkness...Rose, give me orders...Order me to die”

“I can't do that”, Rose said shaking her head.

“This is not life. This is sickness. I shall not be like you. Order my destruction! Obey! Obey! Obey!”

After a moment Rose spoke “Do it”

“Are you frightened, Rose Tyler?” the Dalek asked.

“Yeah”, Rose replied. 

“So am I” the Dalek said feebly “Exterminate”. 

Rose and Josie stumbled back and goes to the Doctor’s side as the Dalek replaces its armour. It levitates in the air and the golden spheres on its casing detaches. They create a prefect sphere around the Dalek. The alien glows briefly and then explodes inside the sphere, vanishing into nothing.

Josie stared at the spot where the Dalek once was before turning to the Doctor and gave him a hug. The Doctor wrapped his arms around her waist and closed his eyes, seeking the comfort that her embrace provided.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“A little piece of home. Better than nothing”, the Doctor said placing a hand on the door of the TARDIS.

“Is that the end of it? The Time War?” Rose asked.

“I’m the only one left. I win. How about that”, he said a little happier than he was before.

“The Dalek survived…maybe some of your people did too”, the blonde suggested.

“I'd know. In here” the Doctor tapped his temple “Feels like there's no one”. 

“Well good thing I’m not going anywhere”, Rose said smiling at him. 

The Doctor smiled back “Yeah”

“I’m not going anywhere either”, Josie assured him as well.

“Good”, the Doctor pleased to hear that “Earth Girl”, he added giving her a nudge, wanting a little of that jovial nature he had before they arrived at Van Statten’s museum. It still felt a bit…depressing almost. He needed something to lighten the mood…to stop him from getting lost in the memories of War which was something he really didn’t want to do at that moment.

Josie nudged him back “900 year old Spaceman”, she lightly retorted. 

Adam jogs up to them. “We'd better get out. Van Statten's disappeared…they’re going to close this place down” the Doctor turned to him “Goddard says they're going to fill it full of cement, like it never existed”.

“Good”, Josie said nodding her approval “shouldn’t have existed in the first place”, she added casting one last look around.

“I'll have to go back home”, Adam continued gloomily.

“Better hurry up then. Next flight to Heathrow leaves at 15000 hours”, the Doctor told him

“Adam was saying that all his life he wanted to see the stars…” Rose hinted causing Josie to give her a look which she ignored.

“Tell him to go outside, then”, the Doctor said with slight sarcasm.

“He’s all on his own Doctor. And he did help”, Rose said.

“He left Josie down there!” the Time Lord argued. Rose didn’t bother to tell him that _he_ was the one who closed the bulkhead in the first place, nor did she confess that she had pushed Josie so that she would end up being trapped with the Dalek. She was pretty sure that the Doctor would never forgive her if that was to come out.

“Guys, we've got to leave”, Adam cut in.

“He's a bit pretty”, the Doctor told Rose and Josie. By that comment she knew he was going to let Adam come.

“Meh”, Josie said with a shrug making sure to show the Doctor how clearly she wasn’t interested in the young man. For some reason the Doctor was rather…happy that she wasn’t interested in the boy.

“I hadn't noticed”, Rose said innocently.

“On your own head”, the Doctor said unlocking the TARDIS.

“What're you doing? She said cement. She wasn't joking. We're going to get sealed in”, Adam said. The Doctor, Rose and Josie entered the TARDIS, ignoring him. “Doctor? What're you doing standing inside a box? Rose? Josie?”

Adam peered through the doors and steps inside.


	10. When the companion snaps

As soon as the Doctor had put the TARDIS into the time vortex, Rose took Adam on a tour of the ship. Josie also excused herself, claiming that she wanted to get some sleep. While the Doctor really wanted to talk to her about what she’d said on the phone, he refrained from calling her back as he knew how much humans loved their sleep. There was plenty of time to talk tomorrow. For the moment he would just tinker away with the console.

~Josie’s room~

The black haired gingerly touched the red marks on her side, wincing as she did so. She’d discovered them when she changed into some PJ’s. Josie glanced up at the ceiling when she heard an unhappy hum. “You can’t tell him”, she pleaded and the ship let out another hum “ _please_ TARDIS. Don’t tell him…I don’t want to cause any trouble”. Josie pulled her shirt back down, turned the light off and got into bed.

The TARDIS watched as her little dreamer dozed off. She couldn’t believe that her thief’s companion would deliberately hurt her…try to even get a Dalek to kill her! Well she was not having it, not one bit. She wouldn’t tell the Doctor because Josie had asked her not to but the girl never said anything about not doing punishing Rose for it.

~pool~

Rose and Adam yelled as they were dropped into the chlorinated water. It was bloody freezing! “W-what the hell happened?” Adam asked as he surfaced, teeth chattering from the cold water.

“I-I don’t know!” Rose exclaimed. She couldn’t understand it. One minute she and Adam were walking down the hallway…the next they were being dropped into a swimming pool. “Co-come on, we better get out before we freeze”, she added and they quickly swam over to the edge, pulling themselves up and out of the water. No sooner then they’d gotten out, several deck chairs suddenly came to life!

Rose and Adam ran around the pool being chased by the deckchairs. The TARDIS quietly snickered to herself as they feel in the pool, shouting about how cold it was. It was incredibly childish what she did but she knew they both deserved it. And she had plenty more ideas on how to punish them. Rose and Adam better watch out because she was just getting started.

\----------

When Josie got dressed the next morning, she took care not to rub the fabric against the bruises which had unfortunately formed overnight to replace the red marks where she had landed hard on the floor. “I’m fine”, she assured the TARDIS as the ship let her know what she thought about the bruises through hums and dimming of the lights “they’ll be gone in a few days. Until then…don’t tell the Doctor”. The TARDIS stayed silent which Josie hoped meant that she wasn’t going to tell the Time Lord.

The black haired girl pulled on a pair of flats and left her room. She wandered along the corridor, heading towards the kitchen wanting to get a nice cup of tea and a bowl of cereal. Hopefully before she had to face Rose.

When she reached the kitchen, Josie’s mouth dropped open. The place was an absolute mess! And so was Rose. The blonde was standing the middle of the room covered in flour. Josie didn’t mean to laugh but the whole thing looked pretty funny.

“You think this is amusing do you?” Rose demanded, storming over to her.

“Just a tiny bit”, Josie admitted trying but failing to keep a straight face.

“Well it isn’t!” Rose snapped “the TARDIS seems to be against me and its all your fault!” the blonde jabbed her in the shoulder.

“How is it my fault?” Josie asked.

“Because you’re _here_!? It was supposed to be me and the Doctor and then you came along and spoiled everything!” Josie took a step back and Rose moved forward.

“Look why don’t we just take a breath and calm down”, Josie suggested gently.

“Calm down. Calm Down! How do you expect me to be calm when you’re here! God I wish that Dalek had killed you but no. It had to change…it had to question itself and you’re still here!” Josie stumbled backwards as Rose roughly shoved her.  The young woman yelped as she fell back against the wall, smacking her head. She groaned and slid down to the floor.

An angry hum reverberated through the corridor and the lights flashed. In the console room, the Doctor glanced up confused as the why his ship was suddenly acting so angry. What had set her off like that? As if to answer his question, the scanner flickered to life showing him Josie and Rose, arguing. And then Rose shoved Josie causing her to fall back, hitting her head against the wall. That action sent a flash of anger running through him and before he knew it he was out of the console room, racing along the corridors hoping to get to Josie before Rose didn’t anything worse.

He honestly couldn’t believe she’d do something as violent as that. She didn’t seem like the type when they first met. The Time Lord rounded the corner to see his companion standing over the fallen girl.

“Rose, get away from her”, the Doctor ordered.

“But she…”

“NOW!” the Doctor shouted. Rose flinched and stepped back, away from Josie. The Time Lord moved over to her and carefully gathered her up in his arms. “Get yourself cleaned up”, he barked at Rose and with that he walked off past Adam who’d just appeared to see what the fuss was all about.

\-------------

~med bay~

The Doctor laid Josie gently down on the hospital bed and carefully checked the back of her head. He felt that she had a nasty bump where her head had hit the wall. He then scanned he with the sonic, breathing a sigh of relief when the results showed that she didn’t have a concussion. Though she didn’t have a concussion, the results showed something else…she had some bruising. According to the sonic it was on her left side.

The Doctor lifted up part of her shirt, exposing the bruises. He frowned at them. How did she get those? Did Rose did those too? Did the blonde also have something to do with Josie being trapped with the Dalek too? Those questions where going to have to wait until Josie woke up. 

\--------------------------------

_Josie found herself in a large-ish room. She looked around confused. The place was a mess…people were injured. ‘What on earth had happened here?’ Her eyes sought out the Doctor, the only reason she seemed to have dreams was because of him and his adventures. She found him sitting at a table across from a fairly pretty black woman. Josie made her way over to them. As she did so, she noticed Rose and Adam loitering by the TARDIS._

_“We're just going to go. I hate tidying up. Too many questions. You'll manage”, the Doctor told the black woman._

_“You'll have to stay and explain it”, the woman insisted “No one's going to believe me”._

_‘Huh, that’s weird. Looks like I’ve come in at the end of an adventure. Not the beginning of one’ Josie thought. That’s never happened before. But then again she’d never been attacked in the manner that Rose had done. In fact she’d never been attacked, period. That was a first and quite hopefully the last time._

_“I think they’re going to start believing a lot of things now”, The Doctor said cheerfully “The human race should accelerate. All back to normal”._

_“What about your friend?” the black woman asked nodding to Adam._

_“He’s not my friend”, the Doctor stated, the cheerful tone gone. Josie winced at his tone of voice. She knew it well. He was NOT happy which told her that Adam had played a big part in what had occurred prior to what she was witnessing now._

_The Time Lord got up and stormed over to Rose and Adam. “Now don’t…” Rose said but he just ignores her, focusing on the British boy._

_“I'm all right now. Much better. I've got the key” Adam showed him “well, it’s…I know…” he laughed nervously “It all worked out for the best, didn't it?” The Doctor just snatched the key, grabbed Adam and unlocks the door of the TARDIS. “You know, it’s not actually my fault, because you were in charge”. The Doctor just shoves him inside, ignoring him completely._

_Josie watched as the scene shifted…changed into a rather homely looking living room. She watched the TARDIS appear and the Time Lord steered Adam out of the blue box.  “It’s my house! I’m home! Oh, my god, I’m home!” Adam cried._

_‘Ah so that’s where we are now’ Josie thought._

_The Doctor stayed silent, glaring at the boy_

_“Blimey I thought the TARDIS was going to chuck me out of an airlock”, Adam said a little relieved about that as the ride had been anything but smooth._

_“Is there something you want to tell me?” the Doctor asked noticing that his answering machine had a flashing light on it, indicating that there was a message._

_“No. Um…what do you mean?”_

_The Doctor went over to the telephone and picks it up “The archive of Satellite 5. One second of that message could've changed the world” he sonics the telephone making it explode. He then walked back to the TARDIS “That's it, then. See ya”_

_“How do you mean, ‘see ya’?” Adam asked confused._

_“As in ‘goodbye’”, the Doctor elaborated._

_“But…what about me? You can't just go. I've got my head. I've got a chip type two. My head opens”, Adam said._

_Josie raised an eyebrow “What’s that mean?” she muttered to herself._

_“What, like this?” the Doctor snapped his fingers, opening Adam’s head. The black haired woman cringed seeing that._

_‘Jeez! He did that to himself? Seriously? That’s just…ew’_

_“Don't”, Adam snapped his fingers, closing his head._

_“Don't do what?” the Doctor asked snapping his fingers again._

_“Stop it!” Adam said angrily snapping his fingers again to close his head._

_“All right now, Doctor, that's enough. Stop it”, Rose said wanting to stop what he was doing._

_“Thank you”, Adam said grateful that he still had Rose on his side. Then the blonde snapped her own fingers. “Oi!” he protested, snapping his fingers again, closing the little door in his head._

_Rose sniggered “Sorry, I couldn't resist”_

_“The whole of history could have changed because of you”, the Doctor said_

_“I just wanted to help”, Adam said feebly._

_“You were helping yourself”, the Doctor retorted._

_“And I'm sorry. I am, I really am, but you can't just leave me like this”_

_“Yes I can. ’Cause if you show that head to anyone, they'll dissect you in seconds. You'll have to live a very quiet life. Keep out of trouble. Be average, unseen. Good luck” the Doctor opened the TARDIS door._

_“But I want to come with you!” Adam cried._

_“I only take the best. I've got Josie”, the Doctor said earning him a look from Rose which he didn’t see…but Josie did._

_‘Oh boy…she really, really does hate me’_

_Suddenly Adam’s mother came through the front door sending Adam into a panic “Rose…take me with you”, he pleaded in a last attempt. Rose just looked at him and went into the TARDIS without saying anything._

~med bay~

The Doctor glanced up from his book when he heard Josie stir. “Welcome back to the world of the living Earth Girl”, he said jokingly.

“At least I got to see another one of your adventures”, Josie countered slowly sitting up, wincing as she did so “So…um why did Adam have a TARDIS key?”

The Doctor sighed setting down his book and proceeded to fill her in on what she’d missed.


	11. Second chance part 1

“He really was an idiot wasn’t he?” Josie remarked shaking her head though she regretted the action as it made her feel a little sick.

“I’m really sorry Josie”, the Doctor said seeing her facial expression after she shook her head.

“What for?” Josie asked “you’re not the one who pushed me. Rose did”.

“Did she also give you those bruises?” the Doctor asked.

“No”, Josie replied quickly. A little too quickly in the Doctor’s opinion which meant that the blonde _was_ responsible.

“You weren’t too slow, were you?” the Doctor asked but Josie didn’t answer, though she did avert her gaze “Rose pushed or tripped you and that’s why you were trapped with the Dalek”. Again Josie didn’t say anything. She didn’t have to, the Doctor could see on her face. He reached out and placed a hand over hers. “That is what happened, isn’t it?” he asked gently. Josie met his gaze and slowly nodded. “Why did you lie?”

“I didn’t want to cause any trouble between you and Rose”, she mumbled dropping her gaze back to the duvet “She’s your companion…I’m just a tag along”.

The Doctor moved to sit beside her, putting an arm around her shoulders. “You’re not a tag along Josie. You may not have been here for very long but I’d consider you a companion”, he said. She glanced up at him.

“Really?” Josie asked hoping he wasn’t just saying that to make her feel better.

“Yep”, the Doctor replied popping the p “Earth Girl”, he added with a grin.

“Spaceman”, Josie automatically countered with a small smile of her own. She then noticed the book on the floor that the Doctor had set down “what were you reading?” she asked, curious.

“Just a book on someone who’s just like you”, the Doctor replied “Well…not _exactly_ like you”, he quickly amended “Nostradamus had dreams about all sorts of things”.

“And I only seem to have dreams about you”, Josie finished.

“When did these dreams of yours start?” the Doctor asked. He needed to more about her dreams if he was to figure out why she just dreamt about him.

“I was pretty young. Can’t remember exactly when…” Josie trailed off when she realised something “wait a minute! My journals! Whenever I had a dream, I’d jot it down in my journals”, she explained “though unfortunately I didn’t exactly bring them all with me, just my most recent one”. Josie tried to get out of bed, but the Doctor stopped her.

“We can take a look as soon as your better”, he said “you may not have a concussion but you still hit your head pretty hard”.

“About that…” Josie started “what are you going to do with Rose?”

“At the moment she’s locked in her room. The TARDIS _really_ isn’t happy with her and neither am I frankly”, the Doctor said “Now, would you like to know more about Nostradamus?” he asked, changing the subject.

“Sure”, Josie replied understanding why he didn’t want to talk about his currently in trouble companion. She listened as the Time Lord explained about this man who had same ability as her.

“Most of the time he would…” the Doctor trailed off when he realised that Josie wasn’t listening to him anymore because she’d dozed off, head resting on his shoulder. He wasn’t annoyed over it as it was to be expected. While he was extremely angry at Rose for what she did, he was very thankful that the blonde hadn’t pushed her down one of the many staircases in the ship. If she had, he could be dealing with more serious injuries instead of a hard whack to the head and some external bruising.

The Doctor carefully laid her down and settled back into the chair next to the bed knowing it’ll be a while till she woke up again.

~Rose’s room~

Rose was beyond furious. She was currently locked in her room because of Josie Turner. She never hated anyone more than she hated that woman!  She picked up a random knick-knack and threw it. It collided with her dresser knocking a photograph off of it. Rose quickly went over and picked it up, checking it for damages. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that it was fine. She looked down at the photograph and a sad smile appeared on her face. It was of her when she was a baby with her mum and dad. It was the only photograph she had of her father as he died when she was a few months old.

Rose sat down, cradling the photograph in her hands. when she was little Jackie would tell her about her dad and the day he died. November the 7th 1987\. Rose clutched the photograph to her chest. No one had been with him when he died. He’d been alone. If only someone had been there, just to hold his hand…

The teen’s eyes widened when she came to a realisation. She was in a time machine! She could go back to that day and be the one to hold his hand! Though there was just the matter of getting out of the bed room…

Rose glanced at the door and sighed. The TARDIS wasn’t going to open the door for her and the Doctor wasn’t about to do that any time soon. But she can wait. She had something to hold on to now.

\------------

It was the next morning when Rose was allowed out of her room. Photograph in hand, she went to go find the Doctor. It wasn’t easy as the corridors kept changing on her. She was at least thankful that she wasn’t dropped in the pool again.

Eventually she found the Time Lord in the kitchen with Josie. They were chatting away and laughing. Rose didn’t understand what they were laughing about, she only caught snatches of the conversation. Something to do with a…jelly baby obsession?

The laughter died down when the pair finally noticed her standing there. “I was wondering…could we go and see my dad when he was still alive?” Rose asked hesitantly.

“What makes you think you’ve got the right to ask for something like that after you attacked Josie?” the Doctor asked eyeing the blonde.

“I know what I did was wrong”, Rose looked at the black haired woman “Josie I shouldn’t have pushed you…I’m sorry”. She didn’t really mean it though, she just needed Josie to think she was being sincere so that she could go see her dad. She wasn’t sorry, not one bit. The only thing she was sorry for was that she didn’t push her down some stairs instead of against the wall.

Josie didn’t say anything, she just looked at Rose trying to figure out if she was being sincere. She _knew_ that the blonde hated her but could she really be sorry? Her mum had always told her to give people the benefit of the doubt…to give people a second chance. “I can’t forgive you, Rose”, she stated “but I’m willing to give you a second chance”.

“Josie, are you sure?” the Doctor asked.

Josie nodded “my mum always told me that I should give people another chance to be better”, she said.

“Ok”, the Doctor said. If she was willing to give Rose another chance then he would too. But if Rose messed that up, she was out. “So you want to see your dad. Any reason why?”

“I just…want to see him”, Rose replied “please”. The Time Lord nodded.

~Register office~

The Doctor, Rose and Josie sat at the back on the room quietly watching the wedding. “I, Peter Alan Tyler, take you, Jacqueline Angela Suzette Prentice…”

“I, Peter Alan Tyler, take you, Jacqueline Suzanne…Suzette…Anita…” Jackie narrowed her eyes as Pete stumbled through saying her name.

“Oh, just carry on. It's good enough for Lady Di”, she said.

“I thought he'd be taller”, Rose remarked quietly to Josie and the Doctor.

“To be my lawful wedded wife, to love and behold till death us do part”

~TARDIS~

“It was a hit and run. Right outside the church where Stewart and Sarah were getting married. Mum said…” Rose swallowed fighting back tears as she spoke about how her father died “mum said that he was dead when the ambulance got there. He died alone” Josie put an arm around her “can we go there? So I can be with him?”

“Of course. Whats the date?” the Doctor asked.

“7th November 1994”, Rose replied.

~Waterley Street~

“It's so weird”, Rose said stepping out of the TARDIS to see that it was just an ordinary day “The day my father died…I thought it'd be all sort of grim and stormy. It's just an ordinary day”.

“The past is another country. 1994's just the Isle of Wight” the Doctor said.

“Are you sure about this Rose?” Josie asked. She knew that it was going to be difficult for her to see her dad get run over. Personally Josie thought she was being pretty brave, if she was in Rose’s position, she couldn’t watch a loved one die.

“I’m sure”, Rose said confidently.

~Jordan Road~

The trio stood side by side on the pavement waiting. “This is it. Jordan Road”, Rose said “He was late. He'd been to get a wedding present, a vase. Mum always said, that stupid vase” Pete’s car came around the corner “He got out of his car…” the car pulled up “…and crossed the road” and stopped “Oh, God. This is it”

They watched Pete pick up the vase from the passenger seat, completely oblivious about what was going to happen. Josie clasped her hands together as Pete got out of the car not seeing the beige vehicle coming right for him. Rose averts her gaze as did Josie when the car hit Pete.

“Go to him”, the Doctor said to Rose. Rose looked at her father, really wanting to…but she couldn’t. She turned and ran off. Josie and the Doctor hurried after her. They found her leaning against a wall, tears in her eyes.

“I’m sorry…I just...couldn’t”, Rose sniffled. The trio then heard sirens approaching “It's too late now…he was dead when the ambulance got there. Can I try again?”

The Doctor hesitated. He knew it would be a bad idea having two sets of themselves in one place but he couldn’t say no…not when Rose looked so upset.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Doctor, Rose and Josie stood out of sight, watching their first selves. “Right, that's the first us. It's a very bad idea, two sets of us being here at the same time. Just be careful they don't see us”, the Doctor told the girls “Wait till she runs off that they follow…then go to your dad”.

For the second time, Pete’s car pulls up and comes to a stop. “Oh, God. This is it”, they hear the first Rose say.

Pete picks up the vase from the passenger seat. “I can't do this”, Rose said.

“You don't have to do anything you don't want to, but this is the _last_ time we can be here”, the Doctor told her. Rose stares at her father getting out of the car. She couldn’t watch him die again. She just couldn’t. _I can stop it_ she thought and ran out.

“Rose! No!” the Doctor shouted but it was too late.

Rose rushed past their first selves and knocked her father out of the way of the oncoming car. “Well…I may be some sort of psychic but I did not see that coming”, Josie remarked lightly. She’d half expected Rose to either stay where she was, which she wouldn’t blame her for one bit or she’d pluck up the courage to do what she wanted to do and say goodbye to her dad.

Josie glanced at the Doctor and saw the horrified look on his face “what’s wrong?” she asked.

“She’s put the entire Earth at risk”, the Doctor replied.

“How? I know her saving Pete means the future is altered…” Josie began.

“There won’t be a future. Not if the Reapers come”, the Doctor cut in.

Josie looked at him confused “what’s a Reaper?” she asked. She’d not heard of that before…unless you want to count the Grim Reaper but she doubted he was talking about _that_.

“There creatures that take advantage of temporal paradoxes…” when Josie looked at him even more confused, he explained it another way “they’re kind of like bacteria taking advantage of a wound” Josie nodded, now understating “And they will consume everything in sight until the ‘offending element’ is removed”.

“And the ‘offending element’ is Pete”, Josie stated turning her gaze back to Rose and her father.

“Yes, it is”, the Doctor said seriously.

“So what do we do if the Reapers come?” Josie asked.

“Nothing”, the Doctor replied “I can’t stop them on my own Josie”.

“It’s a good thing I’m here then. I’m sure between the two of us…Spaceman and Earth Girl…we can figure something out”, Josie said giving him a smile. The Doctor knew she was trying to make him feel better and he appreciated the effort. He returned her smile.


	12. second chance part 2

Pete enters the flat followed by the Doctor, Rose and Josie. “Right, there we go”, Pete said setting down the vase “Sorry about the mess. If you want a cup of tea, the kitchens just down there, milk's in the fridge…well, it would be, wouldn't it? Where else would you put the milk? Mind you, there's always the window sill outside. I always thought if someone invented a window sill with special compartments, you know, one for milk, one for yogurt…make a lot of money out of that”. Rose smiles in delight as she listens to him ramble on about his ideas. The Doctor and Josie hung back nodding politely. “…Sell it to students and things. I should write that down. Anyway, never mind that, excuse me for a minute” and with that Pete pushes past them and disappears through a door.

Rose looked around at all of her dad’s belongings “All the stuff mum kept. His stuff. She kept it all packed away in boxes in the cupboard. She used to show me when she'd had a bit to drink”, she said, reminiscing. 

The Doctor leans against the doorframe arms folded, saying nothing. Josie stayed quiet as well, her mind going over the potential severity of Rose’s actions. “Here it is, on display. Where it should be”, Rose said completely oblivious to the angry Time Lord and the worried black haired woman behind her. She picked up a bowling trophy examining for a moment before setting it down. Then several bottles in the room caught her eye “He made his money selling this Vitex stuff. He had all sorts of jobs. He was so clever”. Rose looks around and spotted some plans on a table “Solar power. Mum said he was going to do this. Now he can”, she said happily. She turned to the Doctor and Josie smiling but neither of them smile back. The Doctor was too angry at her and Josie… well she was too concerned with the fact that Rose had saved her dad, putting the entire earth…their entire future at risk.

“When we met, I said ‘travel with me in space’. You said no. Then I said ‘time machine’…” the Doctor shook his head “I did it again. I picked another stupid ape. I should've known. It's not about showing you the universe. It never is. It's about the universe doing something for _you_ ”.

Rose glared at him “So it's okay when you go to other times, and you save people's lives, but not when it's me saving my dad”, she said getting angry.

“I know what I'm doing, you don't. Two sets of us being there made that a vulnerable point”, the Doctor explained.

“But he's alive!” Rose argued.

“My entire planet died. My whole family. Do you think it never occurred to me to go back and save them?” The Doctor shot back. Josie looked at him sadly. She knew what he’d lost. She knew how much it hurt him. She hoped that by him knowing about her dreams that he wouldn’t feel so burdened by the loss now that he has someone who understands…someone who can help him share the pain.

“But it's not like I've changed history”, Rose insisted “Not much. I mean he's never going to be a world leader. He's not going to start World War Three or anything….”

“Rose, there's a man alive in the world who wasn't alive before. An ordinary man. That's the most important thing in creation. The whole world's different because he's alive”, the Doctor told her.

“What, would you rather him dead?” Rose asked.

“Yes, I would”, Josie replied.

“He doesn’t deserve to die!” Rose shouted.

“I know he doesn’t”, Josie said calmly “No one does. But what you’ve done has put the entire world in danger…and I’m afraid that for it to be saved, your father has to….” She was cut off when Rose slapped her across the face. Or at least tried to if it wasn’t for the fact that Josie had barely grasped hold of her wrist, stopping the blonde’s hand from striking her. “I was willing to give you a second chance Rose Tyler”, she said angrily “and you’ve blown it. Big time”. Josie flung her hand away, turned on her heel and stormed out of the flat, slamming the door behind her.

As soon as she was gone, the Doctor turned back to Rose. “Give me the key”, he demanded holding out his hand. Rose took the key out of her pocket and slaps it down on his hand. “You've got what you wanted, so that's goodbye, then”, the Doctor said. He then turned and walked off down the hall, Rose hurrying after him.

“You don't scare me”, she said unconvincingly as she managed to slipped past him to stand between the pair and the door “I know how sad you are…”

“Was sad”, the Doctor corrected her.

“What?” Rose asked a look of confusion on her face.

“I was sad because I was alone. But I’ve got Josie now”, the Doctor told her. 

“Yeah but you wouldn’t leave me here, you’ll just hang around the TARDIS waiting for me” the Doctor just glared and pushed past her “I’m your companion. Not _her_!” the Doctor ignored Rose, opening the door and walking out. “And I'll make you wait a long time!” Rose shouted after him before slamming the front door.

\----------------

“I can’t believe her. She tried to slap me!” Josie vented, pacing as she did so “I’ve never really hated anyone before but my god I could bloody throttle her!” she tugged on her hair in frustration.

“I know she made you angry but there’s no need to tear your hair out”, the Doctor said behind her.

Josie turned to him “Sorry, its just that…she’s so…ugh! I cannot believe I gave her a second chance! Talk about being a complete idiot”

“You’re not an idiot Earth Girl”, the Doctor said “besides she’s gotten what she wanted. Best we be off”. He took her hand and led her away from the Powell Estate. “You know, we never did get to see that plasma storm in the Horse Head Nebula. You wanna go see it now?”

“But what about the Reapers?” Josie asked.

“If they were going to come, they’d be here by now”, the Doctor replied “so plasma storm?”

“Sounds good to me”, Josie answered “and then can we see the Northern Lights? I’ve always loved looking at pictures of it when I was little”.

“We can go anywhere you want Josie”, the Doctor said cheerfully “If you want to see the Northern Lights, then you’ll see them. If you want to have cocktails on the moon, we can do that too. I’ll even throw in a visit to your favourite person in history. All of time and space is yours”.

“Fantastic!” Josie laughed.

“Oi, that’s my phrase”, the Doctor said but he was grinning too.

“I know, its just fun to say…spaceman”, Josie said and then suddenly took off. The Doctor chased after her.

~Waterley Street~

“Hah! I win!” Josie cheered as she reached the TARDIS first.

“Yeah, yeah. You win”, the Doctor said taking the key out of his pocket. He wasn’t going to tell her that he’d actually let her win the race. He unlocked the door and pushed open the door. Josie gasped seeing that the vast interior had disappeared!

“She’s gone”, Josie said as the Doctor felt around the walls “how can she be gone?”

The Doctor stopped feeling the walls and turned to Josie. She was a little startled by the look on his face “Rose”, he said angrily. He ran off down the road, Josie running after him.

\-------------------

As they neared the church, they saw people milling around outside, Rose among them. “Rose!” the Doctor shouted as they drew closer to the building. The blonde turned to them with this smile on her face “Get in the church!”

Rose smile faded as she heard the urgency in his voice. The Doctor looks to her left, Rose following his gaze and before her eyes a Reaper appeared. The blonde teen screamed at it bared down on her. Then it suddenly changed course, going for an elderly man instead.

The Doctor grabbed Rose’s arm and roughly pulled her into the church, Josie quickly following along with everyone else. He quickly shut the doors just before the Reaper managed to get in. “They can't get in. Old windows and doors. Okay. The older something is, the stronger it is”, the Doctor said looking around at the shadows of the Reapers outside the windows.

“What do we do now?” Josie asked him breathing heavily from the run.

“We need to check the other doors, make sure they’re secure”, the Doctor replied. Josie nodded and headed off to check the nearest door. As the Doctor went to check another one nearby, a younger Jackie Tyler approaches him.

“What's happening? What are they?” she asked.

“There's been an accident in time. A wound in time. They're like bacteria, taking advantage”, the Doctor replied.

“What do you mean, time? What're you jabbering on about, time?” Jackie demanded.

“Oh, I might've known you'd argue”, the Doctor said irritated “Jackie, I'm sick of you complaining….”

“How do you know my name?” Jackie asked. 

“I haven't got time for this…” the Doctor began when the woman continued talking.

“I've never met you in my life!”

“No, and you never will unless I sort this out. Now, if you don't mind, I've waited a long time to say this. Jackie Tyler, do as I say. Go, and, check, the, doors”, the Doctor ordered pointing in the direction of the doors.

“Yes, sir”, Jackie said after staring at him for a moment.

“Blimey, you put her in her place”, Josie remarked, having seen part of the conversation “who is she?”

“That’s Rose’s mother, Jackie”, the Doctor replied “and I admit that felt pretty good…considering the woman slapped me the second time we met”.

“And why did she do that?” Josie asked.

“I brought Rose home 12 months late instead of 12 hours”, the Doctor told her.

“Yeah…that ought to do it”, Josie said. Stuart, the groom approached the pair.

“My dad was out there”, he said sadly.

“I’m sorry”, Josie said sympathetically. He must’ve been the older man that the Reaper had taken outside the church instead of Rose.

“You can mourn him later. Right now we've got to concentrate on keeping ourselves alive”, the Doctor told him.

“My dad had…”

“There's nothing I can do for him”, the Doctor cut in.

“No, but he had this phone thing. I can't get it to work. I keep getting this voice…” Stuart handed the phone over to the Doctor. He put it to his ear and heard

“Watson, come here. We need you. Watson, come here. We need you”

“That's the very first phone call. Alexander Graham Bell”, the Doctor handed the phone back “I don't think the telephone's going to be much use”.

“But someone must have called the police”, Stuart called after him as he and Josie continued on their way. The Doctor turned to him and the other guests.

“Police can't help you now. No one can. Nothing in this universe can harm those things. Time's been damaged and they've come to sterilise the wound” the Doctor made eye contact with Rose “By consuming everything in sight”.

“Is this because…” Rose began shakily “Is this my fault?”

The Doctor didn’t say anything, just gave her a simple look. A look that said yes, it was her fault. Josie made to follow him when Jackie stopped her “would you mind looking after my daughter for a bit?” she asked nodding to the carry-cot that was sitting on one of the pews.

“Uh sure”, Josie replied.

“Thank you”

Josie went over to the carry-cot and looked down at baby Rose and she couldn’t help but smile. While she didn’t like teenage Rose, her infant self was incredibly adorable.


	13. second chance part 3

After having a brief conversation with Stuart and Sarah, in which he assured them that he’d do everything that he could, he went to go find Josie. He found her sitting on one of the pews, cradling a baby in her arms. “Now you’re not going to bring about the end of the world are you Rose?” she said sternly wagging her finger at the baby. The infant reached up and gripped her finger. “It’s a shame that I don’t like your teenage self because you are utterly adorable”.

“So that’s baby Rose huh?” the Doctor asked making Josie look up at him.

“Yep”, Josie replied.

“How did you end up on babysitting duty?” the Doctor questioned sitting down next to her.

“Jackie gave me to her to look after”, Josie answered “guess she must’ve thought I was trustworthy enough to take care of Rose for her”. The black haired woman shook her head, gently prying her finger away from the baby. “If only she knew how much I didn’t like the teenaged version of her daughter. Then I doubt she would even let me within 10 feet of baby Rose”.

They looked up when they heard footsteps coming towards them, it was older Rose. Her eyes were red like she’d been crying. “I'd better be careful. I think I just imprinted myself on Mickey like a mother chicken” she reached over to take her baby self from Josie when the Doctor grabbed her hand.

“No. Don't touch the baby”, he pushed her hand away “You're both the same person. That's a paradox, and we don't want a paradox happening, not with these things outside. Anything new, any disturbance in time makes them stronger. The paradox might let them in”.

“Can't do anything right, can I?” Rose muttered.

“Since you ask, no. So, don't…touch…the…baby”, the Doctor said sounding to Josie at least that he was talking to a dimwit. Which in all honesty was an apt description of the 19 year old.

Rose narrowed her eyes at him “I'm…not…stupid”

“You could have fooled me”, the Doctor spat not even caring about the hurt look on Rose’s face. Josie shifted baby Rose into one arm so she could take his hand, rubbing her thumb on the back of it to try to calm him. Her actions of rubbing her thumb on the back on the Time Lord’s hand seemed to work because he felt himself relax under her touch.

“I don’t have a plan Josie”, the Doctor said deciding to focus on the one companion he wasn’t angry at “No idea. No way out”.

“I’m sure you’ll figure something out”, Josie said trying to stay positive.

“I can’t. The entire Earth's being sterilised”, the Doctor said “This, and other places like it, are all that's left of the human race. We might hold out for a while, but nothing can stop those creatures” he looked at the shadow’s circling the church “They'll get through in the end. The walls aren't that old. And there's nothing I can do to stop them” his grip tightened on Josie’s hand “There used to be laws stopping this kind of thing from happening. My people would have stopped this. But they're all gone. And now I'm going the same way”.

Rose stayed silent thinking on the severity of the situation. She never would’ve believed that saving her father’s life could mean the end of the world. “Josie do you regret coming along? Or having those dreams?” the Doctor asked her.

Josie shook her head “no, I don’t regret it for one second”, she replied “I only wish that we’d met sooner”. She hugged him.

“Yeah, me too”, the Doctor agreed. All this could’ve been avoided if it had been her he met in Henricks instead of Rose. Well, he couldn’t change that now.

Josie frowned feeling his jacket pocket get warm. “You’re hot”, she stated.

“Why thank you Josie”, the Doctor grinned, looking down at her.

“No, you space dunce. Your _jacket pocket_ is hot”, Josie said moving back. The Doctor reached into his pocket and pulled out a glowing TARDIS key which he quickly dropped onto the floor due to the heat it was giving off. The Doctor shrugged off his leather jacket and scooped up the key. “I’m guessing the glowing is a good thing?” Josie asked noting the ecstatic look on his face.

 “It's telling me it's still connected to the TARDIS”, the Doctor replied. He got up and hurried to the front on the church. He turned and faced the guests holding up the key which was still mostly covered up by the jacket. Only the glowing tip was showing. “The inside of my ship was thrown out of the wound but we can use this to bring it back. And once I've got my ship back, then I can mend everything”, the Doctor explained “Now, I just need a bit of power. Has anybody got a battery?”

Stuart gave him the battery from his dad’s phone “Just need to do a bit of charging up…” the Doctor pressed sonic to the battery “and we can bring everyone back”.

Rose and Josie watched as the Doctor slotted the key into thin air and the TARDIS started to materialize slowly “Right, no one touches that key. Have you got that? Don't touch it. Anyone touches that key, it'll be, well, zap. Just leave it be and everything will be fine. We'll get out of here. All of us. Stuart, Sarah you're going to get married, just like I said”.

\------------------

The Doctor came to sit back down beside Josie, Rose and Pete on the pew behind them. “When time gets sorted out…” Rose said slowly.

“Everybody here forgets what happened”, the Doctor told her “And don't worry, the thing that you changed will stay changed”. 

“You mean I'll still be alive, though I'm meant to be dead” Rose just looks at him without speaking. Pete nodded realising that he wasn’t alive in the future “That's why I haven't done anything with my life, why I didn't mean anything”.

“It doesn't work like that”, the Doctor said.

“Rubbish. I'm so useless I couldn't even die properly. Now it's my fault all of this has happened”, Pete said.

Rose placed a hand on Pete’s arm “This is my fault”, she said.

“No, love. I'm your dad. It's my job for it to be my fault”, Pete told her.

“Her dad? How are you her dad?” Jackie asked appearing next to them with baby Rose in her arms “How old were you, twelve? Oh, that's disgusting”.

Pete stands up “Jacks, listen. This is Rose”, he said. 

“Rose?” Jackie said both angry and upset at the thought that her daughter was given a second hand name “How sick is that? You give my daughter a second hand name? How many are there? Do you call them all Rose?”

“Oh, for God's sake, look. It's the same Rose!” Pete reached out and took the baby from her. He gave it to Rose and both the Doctor and Josie jumped up to stop him knowing exactly what would happen.

“Rose! No!” they shouted but it was too late.

Josie quickly snatched the baby away and gave her back to Jackie when a Reaper appeared in the middle of the church. Seeing the alien caused all the guests to go into a panic. “Everyone, behind me!” they hurried to do as he said. The Doctor strode forward and addressed the Reaper “I'm the oldest thing in here”, he said. 

“Doctor!” Josie screamed seeing him get consumed by the Reaper before she could even make a move to push him out of the way.

The Reaper swooped around the church, ready to attack again when it collided with the semi-transparent TARDIS. It and the blue box vanished causing the key to fall to the floor. Josie stared at the spot that the Time Lord had once occupied, her heart aching at the loss. He was gone. The only person in the whole universe that actually made her feel like she belonged somewhere was gone.

 And it was all Rose’s fault!

The blonde teen in question ran over to the key and picked it up “It's cold”, she breathed tears welling up in her eyes “The key's cold. Oh, my God, he’s dead.  It’s all my fault….all of you…both of you” Rose’s voice cracks as it the consequences of her actions finally hit her “The whole world….”

“Oh, now you finally realise what you’ve done”, Josie said loudly, managing to tear her eyes away from the spot on the church floor to glare at the blonde “well its too little too late Rose Tyler”, she snapped and stormed over to the small steps by the pulpit. She sat down, putting her head into her hands.

Pete looked between Josie and Rose. He could see how devastated his daughter was and he could even tell that the black haired woman was hurt by the Doctor’s loss too. Then it hit him, he knew what he had to do. What he should’ve done when he looked out the window and saw the beige car vanish before his eyes. The Doctor had tried to protect him from it. He had to die. It was the only way to save everyone.

He knew what he had to do. He went to the pew where his jacket lay and put it on. He then picked up the vase “what are you doing?” Rose asked as she saw him walk towards the doors holding the vase.

“That car should’ve killed me, love. All this is happening because I’m alive. So I have to make it right”

“But you can't”, Rose said her voice cracking. Josie raised her head from her hands to watch this farewell.

“Who am I, love?” Pete asked.

“My daddy”

Jackie came over to them and looks at Rose with wide eyes “Jackie…look at her. She's ours”

The woman looked at Rose for a moment before the truth dawned on her “oh, god…” she said hugging her teenaged daughter.

“I'm meant to be dead, Jackie. You're going to get rid of me at last”

“Don't say that”, Jackie said trying to hold back tears.

“For once in your life, trust me. It's got be done” Pete said gently “You've got to survive, because you've got to bring up our daughter” he gestures to Rose before pulling Jackie in for one last kiss. He then turns to Rose “I never read you those bedtime stories. I never took you on those picnics. I was never there for you”.

“You would have been”, Rose said crying.

“But I can do this for you. I can be a proper dad to you now”

“But it's not fair”, Rose said. 

Pete smiled “I've had all these extra hours. No one else in the world has ever had that. And on top of that, I got to see you. And you're beautiful” he placed a hand on Rose’s cheek as she sobbed silently.  “How lucky am I, eh? So, come on, do as your dad says. You going to be there for me, love?” Rose nodded “Thanks for saving me”. 

Pete pulls his wife and daughter in for a group hug before he ran out of the church. Rose stood in the doorway as the beige car hit her father. She hesitated for a moment before running out to hold his hand just like she had originally intended.

Inside the church Josie shot to her feet the moment she saw the Doctor appear in the exact spot where he’d been taken. The Time Lord took a couple of steps backwards as the woman flung herself at him, hugging him tightly. “Don’t you bloody do that again spaceman”, she mumbled into his chest “you’re a big part of my life. I cannot lose you now”.

\-------------

Josie smiled when the Doctor opened the door to the TARDIS, seeing that the vast interior was back. “Good to have you back”, she said touching the console. The lights brightened and a happy hum resonated in the air.

Suddenly Rose’s bag appeared landing with a thump on the metal grating making both girls jump. “Is this her way of saying that she doesn’t want me here anymore?” Rose asked.

“She’s not the only one who doesn’t want you here”, Josie said throwing a glare at the blonde “I think its best if we got back to our time”, she added to the Doctor who nodded.

Rose held onto her bag with one hand and the console with the other as the Doctor piloted it back to 2006. Moments later, the ship set down with a thump. “We’re here”, the Doctor told her.

“Don’t let the door hit you on the way out”, Josie added. Rose picked up her bag, walked down the ramp and out of the door without a word.


	14. shall we dance? part 1

The Doctor and Josie burst into the TARDIS and raced up the ramp. “Hold on, this is gonna be close”, the Time Lord told her as he frantically worked at the controls. There was a distant boom which rocked the ship just as the engines started up. Soon the TARDIS was off, zooming through the time vortex.

“Are we gonna see the fruits of our labour then?” Josie asked with a grin. The Doctor threw an unamused look “What?” the woman asked “You know you were gonna say something like that spaceman”.

“No, I wasn’t Earth Girl”, the Doctor fibbed. He was actually going to say something like that but Josie beat him to it. He didn’t really mind though, he liked the little rapport that had developed between them. He pulled a lever setting the TARDIS towards their destination, Villengard which incidentally was the place they’d just left…after setting up a weapons factory to explode. “Here we are”, the Time Lord said when the engines stopped “lets see how it looks”. The pair walked down the ramp, opened the door to find a lush banana plantation outside.

“It looks good”, Josie remarked “definite improvement from before”. The Doctor stepped out and took one of the banana’s. He unpeeled it and had a bite. “How is it?” Josie asked.

“Fantastic”, the Doctor replied. He broke off a chunk and held it out for Josie to try. The young woman took the piece of banana and popped it into her mouth.

“Tastes good. Better than Earth bananas”, Josie said. She swallowed “I wonder how they’d taste in a banana split”, she mused aloud.

“Lets find out”, the Doctor said. He and Josie spend a few minutes picking half a dozen or so bananas before going back into the TARDIS. Moments later, the blue box vanished.

\------------------

“Mmmm”, Josie hummed appreciatively, spooning up some more banana and ice cream “this is so good”.

“You said it”, the Doctor agreed. Suddenly the lights in the kitchen started to flash, followed by an alarm. The Time Lord shot up from his chair and ran out of the kitchen. Josie hurried after him.

“What’s going on?” she asked as they reached to the console room “what’s the emergency?”

“It’s mauve”, the Doctor replied rushing over to the scanner as the TARDIS shook around them.

“Mauve?” Josie asked confused.

“The universally recognised colour for danger”, the Time Lord answered.

“I thought red was the colour for danger”, Josie said tightening her grip.

“That's just humans. By everyone else's standards, red's camp. Oh, the misunderstandings. All those red alerts, all that dancing” the Doctor answered. He gestured to the monitor which showed him the object they were chasing. “It's got a very basic flight computer. I've hacked in, slaved the Tardis. Where it goes, we go”. 

“And that's safe, is it?” Josie questioned.

“Totally”, the Doctor lied. After he said that, part of the console exploded “Okay, reasonably. Should have said reasonably there”.

“Nah, you don’t say Spaceman”, Josie said with as much sarcasm as possible. The Doctor glanced back at the monitor.

“No, no, no, no! It's jumping time tracks, getting away from us”, he said frantically working at the console.

“What exactly is this thing?” Josie asked.

“No idea”, the Doctor replied.

“So why are we chasing it?” Josie questioned.

“It's mauve and dangerous, and about thirty seconds from the centre of London”

\----------------

“Do you know how long you can knock around space without happening to bump into Earth?” The Doctor asked stepping out of the TARDIS, Josie following.

“Five days?” Josie guessed “Or is that just when we're out of milk?”

“Of all the species in all the universe and it has to come out of a cow”, the Doctor muttered and started to walk away from the TARDIS “That object must’ve come down somewhere quite close” the Time Lord continued “Within a mile, anyway. And it can't have been more than a few weeks ago. Maybe a month”.

“A month”, Josie repeated “Why am I not surprised”.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” the Doctor asked.

“Well…I didn’t wanna say this and potentially hurt your feelings…but you’re piloting skills are a tad…well…bad”.

“My piloting skills aren’t that bad”, the Doctor said.

“No? Cardiff 1869…12 months instead of 12 hours…” Josie listed off “Oh! And you dropped that companion of yours…what was her name?” Josie paused thinking “Sarah Jane! That’s it. You dropped her off in Aberdeen, not Croydon. Shall I go on?”

“Ok, I’ve had a few mistakes…” Josie rolled her eyes “but in this case it isn’t my fault. The object, whatever it is was jumping time tracks all over the place. We’re lucky that we’re only a month out”.

“What's the plan, then?” Josie asked “Scan for alien tech?”

“Josie, it hit the middle of London with a very loud bang. I'm going to ask”, the Doctor replied pulling out his physic paper. Josie raised an eye brow at the psychic paper. She knew of course what it was thanks to the dream of Rose’s first trip with the Doctor.

“Think the psychic paper is broken”, she said. The Doctor looked at it.

“It works perfectly fine”, he told her “‘Doctor John Smith, Ministry of Asteroids’”, he read aloud.

“Is that what it says?” Josie asked “cos I didn’t see anything written on it”.

“That’s interesting. Either your too clever for it or you being a dream psychic has allowed you to see past the illusion”, the Doctor remarked.

“I highly doubt it’s because I’m too clever”, Josie said “I’m a 21 year old shop assistant. Hardly a genius”.

“Just because you’re a shop assistant doesn’t mean you’re not clever Josie”, the Doctor said “I think any one who’s able to keep up with me, is rather clever in my book”.

“That’s only due to my dreams”, Josie pointed out.

“I’d say it’s a little of both”, the Doctor countered “Now, door, music, people. What d’you think?” he asked nodding to the door they’d been walking towards.

“I still think it would be quicker to scan for it”, Josie answered “But of course you’re not going to go with my suggestion”, she added under her breath as the Doctor got out his sonic. She watched as he worked on getting the door open with the instrument. The woman frowned when she heard a faint call of

“Muuuu-mmy?” She glanced over her shoulder but didn’t see anything. The call sounded again and this time Josie walked down the alley trying to look for the source. When it sounded the third time, she looked up at the rooftops. Her eyes widened when she saw a child standing up there!

“Doctor! There’s…” Josie trailed off when she saw that the Time Lord was no longer in the alley way, the door he’d been working on was wide open. Josie started off towards the door but stopped. She glanced up at the child. She wanted to tell the Doctor about the child but at the same time she didn’t want to leave him or her alone. “He’s gonna kill me for this”, Josie muttered running over to the ladder on the building where the child was standing. She quickly climbed up the ladder, slipping on a rung in her haste to get to the roof.

“Mummy?” the child, whom Josie could now see was a little boy, called.

“I’m almost there. Don’t move”, Josie warned now seeing how close the boy was to the edge. She climbed up onto the roof and looked up at the boy who was on a section above her head. How the devil did he get up there? The ladder didn’t reach that far and there wasn’t any other way up that she could see. Suddenly a rope swung into view. “Well…that’s a piece of luck”, Josie remarked. She grabbed the rope and gave it a tug to make sure that it was secure. It was. She took a breath “here we go”, she muttered and began the climb.

Josie gave a yelp when the rope came away from the building. She glanced up “You’ve got to be kidding me!” she exclaimed. She was hanging from a ruddy barrage balloon! She tightened her grip as the balloon drifted away. “Why didn’t I just get the Doctor?” she complained, flinching as planes zoomed past her.

An explosion went off below her which scared the life out of her. And then she lost her grip. Josie screamed as she plummeted through the air. Her body jerks to a halt as a blue beam appeared from nowhere, keeping her suspended in mid-air. “Okay, okay, I’ve got you”, an American voice assured her.

“Who’s got me?” Josie asked feeling a mix of surprise and scared. Oh, and a dash of adrenaline. “Who’s got me, and you know…how?”

“I’m just programming your descent pattern”, the American voice continued “keep as still as you can and keep your hands and feet inside the light” there was a pause “oh, and could you switch off your cell phone?”

Josie raised her eyebrows “are you frigging kidding me?” she asked.

“Nope. It interferes with my instruments”

Josie scoffed under her breath but turned her phone off. “There. Its off. Happy?” she asked with a much sarcasm as she could muster while she was suspended in mid-air”.

“Very”, the American voice said “Now, hold on tight!”

“To what?!” Josie exclaimed.

“Fair point”

The 21 year old screamed as she zoomed feet first down the tunnel of blue light before ending up in the arms of a rather good looking man. “Nice catch”, Josie replied somewhat breathless and still trembling a little from the adrenaline that was still coursing through her veins.

“Thanks”, the man said giving her a smile “you ok?”

“Well…I’ve just hung from a barrage balloon…did my first experience free falling. Not fun at all. And then I went down what I’d consider to be the most craziest slide. All in all I feel fine”, Josie said. The man set her carefully on her feet. “Why, are you expecting me to faint or something?” she asked.

“Well, you do look a little dizzy…”

“Nonsense!” Josie waved him off “I’m fine! And as much as I’d like to stay at chat, I’ve got to find my friend”. She took a step forward and promptly passed out. Thankfully, the man, Jack Harkness, managed to catch her. He took her in his arms and gently placed her on the bed at the back of his ship.


	15. shall we dance part 2

Josie’s face scrunched up and she started to stir. “Better now?” Jack called seeing her sitting.

“Yeah”, Josie replied standing up “bit dingy in here”, she remarked. Jack turned on the lights to show the slightly cramped spaceship better. “I suppose it wouldn’t be too much to ask for the name of my rescuer?”

“Captain Jack Harkness, 133 Squadron, Royal Air Force”, Jack showed Josie an ID card. The woman raised an eyebrow when she saw that it was blank “American volunteer”.

“Well that’s one pretty big fib right there”, Josie said plucking the ID card out of his hand “this is psychic paper. It tells you whatever you want it to tell me”.

“How do you know?” Jack asked.

“Two things. One, I have a friend who uses this all the time…” Josie began.

“Ah”

“And two, it doesn’t work on me”, Josie finished. She held the ID card out to him.

“You’re the first person I’ve met where this doesn’t work…” Jack leaned forward “Josie Turner” he took he card from her.

The woman sat down in the seat next to Jack’s “Nice spaceship”, she commented “not really World War Two era is it? Guessing you’re not a local boy”.

Jack glanced at his wrist device “A cell phone and fabrics that won't be around for at least another two decades…guessing you're not a local girl”.

“Give Captain Harkness a gold star!” Josie mock cheered. She reached forward to touch the console but hissed when she felt a stinging pain across her palms. Josie turned them over to see that she had rope burns.

“Burn your hands on the rope?” Jack asked.

“Nah, I was holding a hot pan”, Josie sassed “of course it was on the rope Dumbo”.

Jack chuckled “you’re one of a kind Jo”, he remarked. He gently took her hands and runs a scanner over them. “You know, I’ve been expecting one of you guys to show up”.

“I’m sorry?” Josie asked confused.

“You’re a Time Agent”, Jack stated “probably the prettiest one I’ve seen in a while. Do you often travel by barrage balloon?”

Josie shook her head “Nope. I just got swept off my feet this time around. Wasn’t paying attention”, she replied. She frowned as Jack started to wrap his scarf around her wrists. “What are you doing?”

“Try to keep still”, he said before pressing a button over her head. Josie’s blue eyes widened when she saw what appeared to be tiny gold fireflies hovering above the wounds on her palms.

“Nanogenes. Sub-atomic robots. The air in here is full of them”, Jack explained. Josie watched in amazement as they repaired her skin. Jack pressed a button and the nanogenes vanished. “They just repaired three layers of your skin”, he told her.

“They’re handy little things to keep around”, Josie said touching her now heal palms in amazement.

“Shall we get down to business?” Jack suddenly asked.

“Say who with the what now?” Josie asked looking up at him thoroughly confused.

Jack stood up and grabbed a bottle of champagne “Shall we have a drink on the balcony?” he suggested.

“I don’t drink”, Josie said “and how about we discuss this business in here?” she asked. Though she was rather confused about what this ‘business’ was, she just wanted to get it over with quickly so she could get back to the Doctor. He was more than likely worried about her.

“You don’t want to waste any time. I understand”, Jack said and sat back in the chair, setting bottle down “before we begin, there’s a few questions I need to ask”.

“Fire away”, Josie replied.

“Are you travelling alone? Are you authorised to negotiate with me?” Jack questioned.

“I’m not traveling alone”, Josie answered “as for your other question, it was entirely depend on what we’re negotiating”.

“I have something for the Time Agency. Something they'd like to buy”, Jack said somewhat vaguely “Are you in power to make payment?”

“Well…I can’t agree to anything without talking to my friend first”, Josie said “I really should be getting back to him”, she added as an after thought.

“Him?” Jack asked.

“Yeah, he’s a guy”, Josie replied.

“Is this a friend or a _friend_?” Jack questioned “I only ask because I’m wondering how disappointed I should be”.

“Jack are you coming on to me?” Josie asked brow raised.

“Maybe”, Jack stood up again and pressed another button. This time music began to play, _Moonlight Serenade_. Jack held out his hand to Josie. She sighed but took his hand anyway. He pulled to her feet and they start to dance. “It's 1941, the height of the London Blitz, the height of the German bombing campaign, and something else has fallen on London. A fully equipped Chula warship. The last one in existence, armed to the teeth. And I know where it is, because I parked it. If the Agency can name the right price, I can get it for you”, Jack explained as they danced. Well…it was more swaying from side to side due to the lack of room. “But in two hours, a German bomb is going to fall on it and destroy it forever. That's your deadline. That's the deal. Now, shall we discuss payment?”

“Do you know what I think?” Josie asked “You used to be a Time Agent, now you're some kind of freelancer”. She’d worked that much out while he was talking.

“Well, that's a little harsh”, Jack said pulling her closer to him “I like to think of myself as a criminal”.

“Of course you do”, Josie scoffed. She was not at all impressed with the way he flirted with her. She wasn’t interested at all.

“So, this friend of yours, does he handle the business?” Jack asked.

“Pretty much”, Josie replied.

“Well, maybe we should go find him”, Jack suggested. _Finally!_ Josie thought. She’d been wanting to do that since she woke up.

“And how are you going to find one Time Agent in a city at the height of WW2?” Josie questioned.

“Easy. I'll do a scan for alien tech”, Jack answered and began the scan using his wrist device.

~Hospital~

“Hello? Doctor?” Josie called as she and Jack walked along the corridor. A moment later the Time Lord stepped out of a ward. Seeing the black haired woman, he walked quickly towards them. As soon as he was close enough, he gave Josie a hug, relieved that she was ok. “I know I shouldn’t have wandered off…but there was this little boy and…I’m really, really sorry”, Josie said quickly.

“That’s ok”, the Doctor said “as long as you’re not hurt”.

“I’m fine, promise “, Josie stepped back “Doctor this is Jack” she gestured to the American “Jack this is the Doctor. My friend”.

Jack moved forward and shook the Time Lord’s hand. “I’ve been hearing all about you on the way over”, he said.

“He knows about us being…Time Agents”, Josie informed the Doctor who nodded in understanding.

“And it's a real pleasure to meet you, Doctor”, Jack said clapping him on the shoulder before he moved past him.

“Where've you been Josie?” the Doctor asked “We're in the middle of a London Blitz. It's not a good time for a stroll”.

“Who's strolling? I went by barrage balloon”, Josie told him as a matter-of-factly.

“What?!” the Doctor exclaimed.

“It wasn’t intentional, trust me”, Josie said “Jack thinks we’re here to make a deal for some sort of spaceship…” she frowned trying to remember what it was “Chula. That’s it. A Chula Warship”. And with that she headed off down the corridor.

“Chula?” the Doctor asked himself, confused. When he stepped into the ward, Jack was scanning one of the patients with his wrist device.

“This just isn't possible”, Jack muttered “How did this happen?”

“What kind of Chula warship landed here?” the Doctor asked. Josie glanced at him, hearing a hard edge to his voice. Why the sudden change? Unless he’s figured something out.

“Does it matter?” Jack asked agitated “It's got nothing to do with this”.

“This started at the bombsite. Its got everything to do with it”, the Doctor said angrily “what kind of warship?”

“An ambulance!” Jack turns on his wrist device to show the three of them a hologram of the ambulance “That's what you chased through the Time Vortex. Its space junk. I wanted to kid you it was valuable. It's empty. I made sure of it. Nothing but a shell. I threw it at you. Saw your time travel vehicle, love the retro look, by the way, nice panels. Threw you the bait and you followed it all the way here. I’d planned to sell it to you and then destroy it before you found out it was junk”.

“So you were just conning us”, Josie said folding her arms.

“I only was conning you because I thought you were Time Agents. But you’re not are you?” Jack asked.

“More like a couple of freelancers”, Josie admitted.

“Ahh…should’ve have known. The way you guys are blending in with the local colour”, Jack said looking at their clothes.

“What is happening here, Doctor?” Josie asked turning to him.

“Human DNA is being rewritten… by an idiot”, the Doctor replied glaring at Jack.

“But why change people to look like this?” Josie asked nodding to the bodies “What's the point?” 

“I don’t know Earth Girl but that’s a very good question”, the Doctor said.

Suddenly all the patients sit up in the beds. “What's happening?” Josie asked as all the patients started calling mummy.

“I don't know”, the Doctor said. The three of them started backing up as Doctor Constantine stood along with the patients.

“Don't let them touch you”, The Doctor warned as the gas-masked people closed in on them.

“What happens if they touch us?” Josie asked worriedly.

“You're looking at it”, the Doctor replied. The patients continued to advance on the Time Lord and three humans, who’ve now been backed against a wall. Josie grabbed the Doctor’s hand as they get surrounded by gas-masked people who were still calling out mummy.

**To be continued…**


	16. shall we dance? part 3

“Go to your room”, the Doctor said when the patients where within touching distance. The patients stand still. “Go to your room!” the Doctor commanded again. They watched all the patients tilt their heads in unison “I mean it! I'm very, very angry with you. You’ve upset your mother” Josie shot him a WTF look when he gestured to her. He glanced at the woman, giving her a look to play along. She sighed and put her hands over her face as if she was crying. “See! You’ve made her cry. Now…go… to… your… room!” the Doctor shouted pointing a finger in no particular direction. They all relaxed when the patients hung their heads and moved away from them, back to their respective beds.  “I'm really glad that worked”, the Doctor said relieved “those would have been terrible last words”.

“You got that right”, Josie agreed “now why on earth did told them that I was their ‘mother’?”

The Doctor shrugged “I don’t know Earth Girl, I just said the first thing that came to me”, he replied.

Josie hummed “mmm…I don’t think that was wise Spaceman. What if it didn’t work?”

“There no point wondering ‘what if’, the point is that it did work Josie” the Doctor turned to Jack “How was your con supposed to work?” he asked. 

“Simple enough, really. Find some harmless piece of space junk…let the nearest Time Agent track it back to Earth, convince him it's valuable, name a price. When he's put 50% up front, oops! A German bomb falls on it, destroys it forever. He never gets to see what he's paid for, never knows he's been had. I buy him a drink with his own money, and we discuss dumb luck”, Jack explained “The perfect self-cleaning con”.

“Yeah. Perfect”, the Doctor said sarcastically.

“The London Blitz is great for self-cleaners. Pompeii's nice if you want to make a vacation of it though, but you've got to set your alarm for volcano day” Jack laughed at his own joke. Both the Doctor and Josie looked at him clearly not impressed. “Getting a hint of disapproval”.

“You don’t say”, Josie said with as much sarcasm as she could muster “thousands of innocent people died when Vesuvius erupted and its in very poor taste to joke about it”. Jack averted his gaze away from her disapproving look. But of course that meant he was looking at the gas masked patients instead. He quickly looked away from them too and back at the Doctor and Josie.

“Look, I know you guys don’t approve of my con but I swear to you, the ship I made crash was completely empty. It couldn’t have done this”, he insisted. The Doctor just shot him a dark look before he walked out of the ward. “Jo, I swear to you I didn’t harm anyone. I even programmed the flight computer so it didn’t land on anything living”, Jack continued.

“Right”, Josie said slowly, clearly not believing him. Then walked out of the ward. The moment she stepped out of the ward, she heard a siren going off. “What's that?” she asked looking up.

“The All Clear”, Jack replied having followed her out of the ward.

“I wish”, the Doctor muttered.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When they got up to room 802, the Doctor had explained that it was the room where a young boy had been taken. He was the one who’d been closest to the ‘bomb’ when it came down. The Time Lord had Jack use his blaster on the door which created a square shaped hole around the lock “Sonic blaster, 51st century”, the Doctor said. Jack cast a surprised look at the Time Lord “Weapon Factories of Villengard?”

“You've been to the factories?” Jack asked. The Doctor and Josie exchanged smirks.

“We’ve both been”, the black haired woman answered.

The Doctor took the blaster from Jack to have a look at it “it was only the once though”, he added.

“Well, they gone now, destroyed. The main reactor went critical. Vaporized the lot”, Jack explained.

The Doctor gave the blaster back “Like I said, once. There's a banana grove there, now. I like bananas. Bananas are good” he smiled pleasantly at the man and walked into the room. Josie had to press her lips together to supress a laugh, seeing the expression on Jack’s face before she too stepped into the room.

“Blimey, had some cowboys in here”, Josie remarked taking in the room. Filing cabinets tipped over, electronic equipment broken. The observation window across the room was smashed.

“What d’you think?” the Doctor asked his companion and Jack.

“Something got out of here…” Jack started.

“Yeah. And?” the Doctor pressed.

“Something powerful. Angry”, Jack continued.

“Powerful and angry”, the Doctor agreed.

Jack entered through the open door that lead to the room behind the broken observation window. The walls and floors were covered with child’s drawings. “A child?” he stated “That explains ‘mummy’”.

Josie walked into the room going over to one of the drawings. She reached up and gently touched it. “Are you getting anything?” the Doctor coming over.

She shook her head “No”, she replied “I thought I’d try but it seems the only way I get anything is if I’m asleep”. The Doctor gently squeezed her shoulder and left the room to start the tape machine that he’d noticed on the table outside the room.

 _“Do you know where you are?”_ Doctor Constantine asked

_“Are you my mummy?”_

_“Are you aware of what's around you? Can you see?”_ Constantine questioned.

 _“Are you my mummy?”_ the boy repeated.

_“What do you want? Do you know…”_

_“I want my mummy. Are you my mummy? I want my mummy! Are you my mummy? Are you my mummy? Mummy? Mummy?_ ”

“I’ve heard his voice before”, Josie said recognising it, her eyes flitting from drawing to drawing on the wall.

“Me too”, the Doctor said.

 _“Mummy?_ ”

“Always ‘are you my mummy?’ Like he doesn't know”, Josie continued.

“Mummy? _”_

“Why doesn't he know?” she asked voicing the question on all their minds.

_“Are you there, mummy? Mummy?”_

\-------------------

The recording continued with the child still asking for its mummy. “Can you sense it?” the Doctor asked pacing around the child’s room.

“Sense what?” Josie questioned.

“Coming out of the walls, can you feel it?” the Doctor continued. The silence from Jack and Josie made the Time Lord stop pacing and look at the pair. “Funny little human brains, do you get around in those things?” he remarked.

“I beg your pardon Doctor? Did you just insult us?” Josie asked folding her arms.

“No, not you Josie”, the Doctor said quickly “just him” he nodded to Jack.

“Oh, thanks”, the American grumbled.

“ _Mummy, please?_ ” the boy called.

“There are these children living rough around the bomb site. They come out during the air-raids looking for food”, the Doctor said “suppose they were there when this thing, whatever it was, landed?”

“It was a med-ship. It was harmless”, Jack insisted.

“You keep saying that it was harmless, that it couldn’t have done what you saw in the ward”, Josie said.

“She’s right, you do”, the Doctor agreed “But what if one of them was affected, altered?”

“Altered how?” Josie asked.

“I’m here!” the boy called.

“It’s afraid. Terribly afraid and powerful. It doesn’t know it yet, but it will do” the Doctor gave a small laugh “its got the power of a god and I just sent it to its room”.

A loud crackling filled the air.

“Doctor…” Josie began feeling rather afraid. She felt almost as scared as when she came face to face with a Dalek.

“I’m here”, the boy said loudly “can’t you see me?”

“What’s that noise?” Josie asked, the crackling putting her on edge quite a bit.

The Doctor’s smile faded “End of the tape. It ran out 30 seconds ago”, he replied.

“I’m here now. Can’t you see me?” the boy repeated.

“I sent it to its room”, the Doctor said again “This _is_ its room”, he realised. He spun around and saw the child standing by the tape machine.

“Are you my mummy?” the boy asked cocking his head to one side, considering Josie. The black haired woman shifted uneasily on the spot, not liking attention.

“Ok…on my signal…make for the door. Now!” Jack violently produces a banana from his belt and points it at the child like a weapon. Josie let out a laugh, despite how uneasy she felt...Jack pulling out a banana, brandishing it like a weapon, was extremely funny. The Doctor grinned and pulled the sonic blaster from his own belt. He uses it on the wall and ushered Josie through.

“Don't drop the banana!” the Doctor said to Jack as he hopped through after the pair.

“Why not?!” Jack questioned as he followed the Time Lord.

“It’s a good source of potassium!” Josie shouted at him.

Jack snatched his blaster back from the Doctor and repaired the wall. “Digital rewind” he explained. The American then tossed the banana at the Doctor who caught it “Nice switch”, he commented.

“It's from the groves of Villengard. I thought it was appropriate”, the Doctor stated.

“Definitely appropriate”, Josie agreed “they’re also very tasty”.

“That they are”, the Doctor said.

The child suddenly thumped on the wall on the other side, making it crack. The Doctor, Josie and Jack hurried along the corridor and down a flight of stairs. The three of them didn’t make it very far until they encountered gas-masked patients bursting out of the ward calling mummy. The trio hastily backtracked but they find another group of gas-masked patients. They found themselves back at the wall where the child was trying to break through. “It's keeping us here till it can get at us”, the Time Lord said feeling Josie grasp the sleeve of his jacket. He glanced at her and she how scared she was.

“It's controlling them?” Jack asked pointing his blaster at every direction.

“It _is_ them”, the Doctor corrected “It's every living thing in this hospital”. He was not liking this situation at all. His Earth Girl was scared. He had to get her out of here fast!

“Okay. This can function as a sonic blaster, a sonic cannon, and as a triple-enfolded sonic disrupter”, Jack said listing off features of his gun “Jo, Doc, what you got?”

“Well…apart from a little sarcasm and my phone, all I’ve got is a boatload of fear”, Josie answered trying to keep the tremor from her voice “in others words, I’ve got naff all”.

The Doctor got out his sonic screwdriver from his pocket “I've got a sonic, er… Oh, never mind”

“What?” Jack asked.

“It's sonic, okay? Let's leave it at that” the Doctor said turning to face the second group of gas-masked people turning his sonic on and pointing it at them. He pushed Josie behind him so she was sandwiched between himself and Jack.

“Disrupter? Cannon? What?” Jack pressed. Josie glanced in all directions. They were cut off. No way out…unless…she glanced down at the floor and a smile formed on her face.

“It's sonic! Totally sonic! I am soniced up!” the Doctor said.

“A sonic what?!” Jack demanded.

“Screwdriver!” the Doctor shouted.

Jack turned to him as the child breaks through the wall. Josie grabbed Jack’s wrist and makes him point his blaster at the floor. “Going down!” she warns before firing the weapon.

The trio fell through the hole. Jack landed on his front while the Doctor landed on his back with Josie sprawled out on top of him. The former Time Agent jumped to his feet and used his sonic blaster to repair the ceiling.

“You know, I could’ve used a warning Earth Girl”, the Doctor grumbled trying to ignore how his hearts sped up slightly as he looked into her dark blue eyes.

“So what’s me shouting ‘going down’ if its not a warning?” Josie asked getting off the Time Lord “cos last time I checked that was a form of a warning”.

“Well perhaps you should give me a little more warning next time”, the Doctor suggested standing up.

“Oh, sure. Next time I plan to save our lives, I’ll ensure to add in a countdown along with the warning”, Josie sassed.

Jack snorted “I said it once, I’ll say it again. You’re one of a kind Jo”, he remarked.

Josie gave a mock bow “I aim to please, Jack”, she said.

Jack gave her a grin and turned to the Doctor “sonic screwdriver?” Jack asked.

“I do”, the Doctor said defensively.

“Who looks at a screwdriver and thinks, ‘ooo, this could be a little more sonic?’” Jack said sarcastically and Josie felt along the walls for a light switch so they could see where they’d ended up.

“It’s far easier than trying to save the universe with a kettle and some string”, the black haired woman commented “though…it does show cleverness and ingenuity if you save the day without that dandy little device” Josie paused when a thought struck her “actually, I’ve always wondered, how did you come about creating the sonic in the first place?”

“Sorry Earth Girl but that’s one secret you’re not going to know”, the Doctor answered.

Josie pouted “Spoilsport”, she grumbled before continuing her search for a light switch. She brightened when her fingers came into contact with something that felt remarkably like a light switch “let there be light!” she declared before flicking it on.

The second the room was bathed in light, all the patients in the beds sat up and started calling ‘mummy’. 

“Door”, Jack said and the three of them ran towards it. The American tried to blast the door open but the weapon doesn’t work. He moved back to allow the Doctor to open the door with his sonic.

“It's the special features. They really drain the battery”, Jack said annoyed that his gun no longer worked. The Doctor got the door open and the three hurry through. “I was going to send for another one, but somebody's got to blow up the factory”, Jack grumble.

“That was pretty fun”, Josie said and Jack shot her an annoyed look “what? It was pretty fun. Besides it was a bad use of space, now there’s a banana grove. Which is a good use of space”.

“Okay, that door should hold it for a bit”, the Doctor said after he locked the door with the sonic.

“The door? The wall didn't stop it!” Jack exclaimed.

“It’s got to find us first”, Josie pointed out.

“Precisely”, the Doctor agreed “Come on, we're not done yet! Assets, assets!” he urged.

“Well, I've got a banana, Jo has her sass and in a pinch you could put up some shelves Doc”, Jack answered.

“Window”, the Doctor said going to it.

“Barred, Sheer drop outside. Seven stories”, Jack replied.

“And no other exits”, the Doctor stated.

“Well, the assets conversation went in a flash, didn't it?” Jack commented settling himself comfortably in a chair.

“We shouldn’t give up. There’s always a way. We just have to figure it out”, Josie said trying to remain optimistic.

“Right. First things first. We need to get out of this room”, the Doctor said. He glanced at Josie “any ideas?”

“Uh, not yet”, she answered “but I’ll keep racking my brain”.

“Ok, Jack…” the Time Lord turned to the former Time Agent and was surprised to find he was no longer there!


	17. shall we dance? part 4

“So…Jack has pulled a Houdini”, Josie stated “what are we going to do about getting out of here then?”

“I don’t know”, the Doctor walked over to a chair and sank down into it.

“Could we…I dunno…make a run for it?” Josie suggested perching on the edge of a table.

The Doctor shook his head “No, there’s too many of them. We wouldn’t get far before they caught us”, he said “I’m so sorry Josie, I’ve trapped you here”.

“Oh come off it Doctor, we’re not trapped. Just inconveniently circumstanced”, Josie said trying to stay positive.

“You’re a right little optimist are you?” the Doctor remarked eyeing the woman.

“Just call me the Miss Optimist”, Josie said and then she made a face “No, that’s a rubbish name. Don’t call me that. Anyway, I’m only an optimist because of this Scottish man I met when I was about 10. He was so nice. Told me ‘hope is like a light in the dark. It can keep you going through the worst of times so you want to cling onto hope as tightly as you can’”.

“He said that?” the Doctor asked.

Josie nodded “yeah, he did”, she answered. Suddenly a radio on the shelf crackled to life.

“Jo? Doctor? Can you hear me?” Jack’s voice called through it. Josie and the Doctor exchanged confused looks before they got up went over to it. “I'm back on my ship” the Doctor picked up the radio “Used the emergency teleport. Sorry I couldn't take you” the Time Lord and Josie stared in confusion at the torn wires of the radio “It's security-keyed to my molecular structure. I'm working on it. Hang in there”.

“How the heck are you speaking to us?” Josie asked “the wires of the radio are torn up!”

“Om-Com”, Jack replied “I can call anything with a speaker grill”.

“Now there's a coincidence”, the Doctor muttered “The child can Om-Com, too”.

“He can?” Josie asked, surprised.

“It’s how he spoke to me through the TARDIS phone”, the Doctor told her.

Josie frowned “But that’s impossible. That phone isn’t even connected”, she said.

“That’s what Om-Com is. Talking through anything with a speaker grill”, the Doctor explained, Josie nodded in understanding.

“And I can hear you. Coming to find you. Coming to fiiiind you”, the child spoke in a sing song voice through the radio.

“Doctor, Jo can you hear that?” Jack asked.

“Yeah, we can Jack”, Josie answered.

“I'll try to block out the signal. Least I can do”, Jack said.

“Coming to find you, mummy!” the child cheered.

“Here’s a treat for you”, Jack said and _Moonlight Serenade_ started to play through the radio, blocking out the child.

“Well at least we have music while wait”, Josie said tugging her hair band out of her hair to fix her ponytail. The Doctor frowned at her hands, they were unmarked. Didn’t she say that she ‘went by barrage balloon’ prior to meeting Jack? “What?” the woman asked gathering her hair up and securing it with the band “have I got something on my face?”

“No”, the Doctor answered “but your hands…” he took hold of them, turning them over to look at her palms “you’ve got no injuries. Didn’t you say you went by barrage balloon?”

“I did”, Josie said “and my hands were injured. Got nasty rope burns but Jack patched me up with these little golden fireflies. Oh what were they called…?” she paused thinking “Nanogenes! That’s it. Nanogenes”.

“Nanogenes”, the Doctor repeated “you sure that’s what he said?”

“That’s what Captain Jack said”, Josie said confidently.

“Oh?” the Doctor raised an eyebrow “you’re calling him _Captain_ Jack now, are you? What happened to plain old ‘Jack’?”

“Well…he is a Captain. Or at least that’s what he told me”, Josie answered.

“If he was a captain, he’s been defrocked”, the Doctor said.

“Actually, I quit” Jack cut in “Nobody takes my frock”. The Doctor and Josie looked over, surprised to find that they were no longer in the store room. “Most people would notice when they’ve been teleported. You guys are so sweet” Jack said looking pointedly at them. The Doctor looked at Josie’s hands which he was still holding and quickly let go. “Sorry about the delay”, Jack said apologetically “I had to take the nav-com offline to override the teleport security”. 

“Maybe you should brush up on how your ship works if its going to take this long to override teleport security”, Josie suggested.

“That’s a very good idea Jo, I’ll make sure to do that”, Jack grinned at her before he ducked into a compartment under the console.

“This is a Chula ship”, the Doctor said looking around.

“Yeah, just like that medical transporter. Only this one is dangerous”, Jack called from the compartment. The Doctor snaps his fingers and the Nanogenes envelopes one of his hands. He let them fix the burn on his hand from the console before he waved them off. He then turned to Jack “Take us to the crash site. I need to see your space junk”, he all but ordered.

“As soon as I get the nav-com back online”, Jack said as if he was being nagged “Make yourself comfortable” Josie and Doctor settled down on the bed at the back of the ship.

~bomb site~

The Doctor, Josie and Jack peer over the barbed wire at the soldiers on duty. “There it is” Jack spotted Algy pacing up and down “Hey, they've got Algy on duty. It must be important”, he added.

“We've got to get past”, the Doctor stated.

“Well that’s a given”, Josie said “I could distract him if you like”, she suggested.

“Though you’re a rather attractive lady and I’d date you in a heartbeat...” the Doctor shot a look at Jack which he didn’t notice “Algy wouldn’t be interested in you”.

“Doesn’t swing that way?” Josie asked also unaware of the look the Time Lord had given Jack.

“Nope. He doesn’t”, Jack said “right don’t wait up you two” he patted the Doctor and Josie on the shoulders before he moved around the barrier, heading towards his comrade.

“Would you date him?” the Doctor suddenly asked.

“Well, he is a rather handsome looking man”, Josie admitted. Upon seeing the Doctor’s look, she added “What? I have eyes…I’m a female. I’d have to be an utter idiot or completely blind not to noticed how attractive he is”.

“So…you would go on a date with him?”

“Maybe…I don’t know. Why are you asking anyway? Doctor…are you jealous of Jack?”   

“No, of course I’m not”, the Doctor said quickly.

Josie was about to call him out of the fact that she didn’t believe him when they heard Jack shout. They looked over in time to see Algy’s face turn into a gasmask. The pair darted over to him. “The effect's become air-borne, accelerating”, the Time Lord stated worriedly.

“So…what’s keeping us safe then?” Josie asked wary of this new development.

“Nothing at all”, the Doctor replied.

An air-raid siren sounded and Jack looked up “Ah, here they come again”, he said.

“Jack…didn’t you say that a bomb was going to land…here?” Josie questioned, her voice trembling with concern.

“It’s too late to worry about that, the contaminants airborne now, there's hours left”, the Doctor told her.

“For what?” Jack asked.

“‘Til nothing. ‘Til forever. For the entire human race”, the Doctor said seriously “And can anyone else hear singing?” he asked, his ears picking up a faint tune.

Josie frowned not hearing anything for a moment but then she heard the very faint sounds of someone singing. “Yes, I can”, she said “just about”. They followed the singing to a small shed. Inside was Nancy who was singing to a transformed soldier. The Doctor quickly freed her from the handcuffs and then Jack led them to the med-ship.

“You see? Just an ambulance”, Jack said nodding to it.

“That's an ambulance?” Nancy asked eyeing it.

“Not the sort of ambulance you’d be used to seeing, it’s from another world”, Josie told her earning her a confused look from Nancy.

“They've been trying to get in”, Jack said looking at the controls.

“Of course they have”, the Doctor said rolling his eyes. They weren’t exactly going to leave it alone where they? “They think they've got their hands on Hitler's latest secret weapon….” Jack started pressing buttons on the keypad “What're you doing?” he asked the man.

“The sooner you see this thing is empty” Jack said, still pressing buttons “the sooner you'll know I had nothing to do with it” the controls explode with sparks and they all jump backwards. “Didn't happen last time”, he said.

“It hadn't crashed last time. They’re the emergency protocols”, the Doctor told him as an alarm blared.

“Is the blinky red light part of it?” Josie asked pointing to it.

“Yes it is”, the Doctor answered. Suddenly the gates at the other side of the bomb site started shaking. “Captain, secure those gates!” the Time Lord ordered.

“Why?” Jack asked.

“Just do it!” the Doctor shouted. Jack nodded, clambered down from the ambulance and ran over to the open gates. The Time Lord turned to Nancy, “Nancy how'd you get in here?” he asked.

“I cut the wire”, Nancy replied.

“Show Josie” he tossed his sonic to the woman in question who caught it “Setting 2,428D”.

“What’s that do?” Josie asked.

“It reattaches barbed wire”, the Doctor answered “Now, go” Josie nodded and left with Nancy.

~Bomb site fence~

“Who are you? Who are any of you?” Nancy asked as she held two pieces of wire while Josie used the sonic to fuse them together.

“You wouldn’t believe me Nancy if I told you”, Josie answered.

“You told me that pod thing was an ambulance from another world”, Nancy said “There are people running around with gas mask heads calling for their mummies, and the sky's full of Germans dropping bombs on me. Tell me, do you think there's anything left I couldn't believe?”

“I’m from the future”, Josie stated.

“Yeah right”, Nancy scoffed “mental you are”.

“I’m being very serious”, Josie insisted “I’m from the future”.

Nancy shook her head “you _can’t_ be from the future. Look around you Josie, London is practically in ruins. Bombs rain down on us daily!”

Josie took Nancy’s hand “listen, I know it seems like it’s the end of the world and even darker days are going to come. But I promise you, they don’t. The Doctor would kill me for saying this to you, so don’t tell him…but the Germans don’t win. You do”.

“We do?” Nancy repeated.

“Yes, you win”, Josie smiled before turning a little serious “just promise me something Nancy”.

“Anything”, Nancy said.

“Promise me that you won’t lose hope, no matter how bad things get. Never lose hope”, Josie said firmly.

Nancy nodded “Ok, I won’t. Thanks Josie”, she said. They continued to reattach the barbed wire.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jack opens the hatch of the med-ship “It's empty. Look at it”, he said. 

“What do you expect in a Chula medical transporter?” the Doctor asked turning to Josie and Nancy as they joined them “Bandages? Cough drops?”

“Nanogenes”, Josie answered. The Doctor snapped his fingers and pointed at her.

“It wasn't empty, Captain. There was enough nanogenes in there to rebuild a species”, he said to Jack.

Jack paled, rather shaken by that fact. It really was all his fault “Oh, God”, he breathed.

“Getting it now, are we?” the Doctor asked “When the ship crashes, the nanogenes escape. Billions upon billions of them, ready to fix all the cuts and bruises in the whole world” the Doctor explained “But what they find first is a dead child, probably killed earlier that night, and wearing a gasmask”.

“They brought the boy back?” Josie asked surprised “surely that’s impossible”.

The Doctor shook his head “not for the nanogenes”, he said “unfortunately the nanogenes in this ship aren’t like the ones on yours Jack. This lot have never seen a human being before. Don't know what a human being's supposed to look like. All they've got to go on is one little body, and there's not a lot left. But they carry right on. They do what they're programmed to do. They patch it up. Can't tell what's gasmask and what's skull, but they do their best. Then off they fly, off they go, work to be done. Because, you see, now they think they know what people should look like, and it's time to fix all the rest. And they won't ever stop. They won't ever, ever stop. The entire human race is going to be torn down and rebuilt in the form of one terrified child looking for its mother, and nothing in the world can stop it!”

“I didn't know”, Jack said defiantly although his was still rather shaken. The Doctor fixed him with a cold stare for a few seconds before turning to examine the med-ship.

“Josie!” Nancy suddenly cried. The black haired woman left her spot by the ambulance to join Nancy.

“Oh god”, she breathed seeing that the gas masked people were approaching the fence. Josie grabbed Nancy by the hand and pulled her back to the Doctor and Jack. “There’s quite a few gas masked people coming this way”, she informed them.

“The ship thinks it's under attack. It's calling up the troops. Standard protocol”, the Doctor explained looking up from his work.

“They’re not troops. They’re just men and women affected by the nanogenes”, Josie said with a frown.

“Technically you’re not wrong Earth Girl”, the Doctor said “but they _are_ troops now. This is a battle-field ambulance. The nanogenes don't just fix you up, they get you ready for the front line. Equip you, programme you…”

“Is that why the boy is strong and can do that On-Com thing?” Josie asked.

“It's a fully equipped Chula warrior, yes” the Doctor nodded “All that weapons tech in the hands of a hysterical four year old looking for his mummy. And now there's an army of them”.

The gasmask people surround the fence. “Why don't they attack?” Jack asked eyeing them.

 “Good little soldiers, waiting for their commander”, the Doctor replied.

“The child?” Jack asked.

“Jamie”, Nancy corrected making Josie cast a glance at her. How did she know the boy’s name? Was the boy her sibling or something?

“So how long until the bomb falls?” Josie asked Jack.

“Any second”, Jack said looking up.

“What's the matter, Captain?” the Doctor looked at Jack “A bit close to the volcano for you?”

“He's just a little boy”, Nancy breathed.

“I know”, the Doctor said softly.

“He's just a little boy who wants his mummy”, Nancy said tearing up. Josie gently squeezed her shoulder “and it's all my fault”, she added quietly.

“No” the Doctor shook his head.

“It is. It's all my fault”, Nancy insisted, starting to cry.

“Nancy…is Jamie your son?” Josie asked carefully. She had thought that Jamie was possibly Nancy’s brother, hence why the girl knew his name but Jamie being her son made more sense…especially with the whole ‘are you my mummy’. Nancey tearfully nodded.

“Doctor, that bomb. We've got seconds”, Jack warned him.

“So it's volcano day” the Doctor stated “Do what you've got to do”. The former Time Agent vanished.

The gate opens and Jamie stands there “Are you my mummy?” he asked.

“Nancy, you _have_ to tell him. It’s the only way to get him to stop”, Josie said. Nancy nodded and walked forward as does Jamie. 

“Are you my mummy?” Jamie asked.

“Yes, I am your mummy”, Nancy told him

“Mummy?”

“I'm here”, Nancy said stopping.

“Are you my mummy?”

“I'm here”, she repeated kneeling down in front of Jamie.

“Are you my mummy?”

“I am your mummy. I will always be your mummy. I'm so sorry. I am so, so sorry”, Nancy said sincerely, tears in her eyes. The young woman then took the boy into his arms and a cloud of Nanogenes surround them.

The Doctor watched what was happening excited. “Come on, please. Come on, you clever little Nanogenes. Figure it out!” he urged “The mother, she's the mother. It's got to be enough information. Figure it out”.

Nancy fell away from Jamie as the nanogenes disappeared. Josie and the Doctor rush over. “Oh, come on. Give me a day like this”, the Doctor said hardly daring to hope “Give me this one”. He removes Jamie’s gas mask, revealing a little boy underneath. He laughed ecstatically picking the boy up “Ha-ha! Welcome back! Twenty years till pop music - you're going to love it”

“What happened?” Nancy asked looking at her son in wonder. Josie was wondering the something.

“The Nanogenes recognised the superior information, the parent DNA. They didn't change you because you changed them!” the Doctor explained, still grinning.

“I think the most apt phrase here is ‘Mother knows best’”, Josie with a smile on her own face.

“Oh, Jamie”, Nancy said happily as the Doctor set him down on the ground. She hugged him again. A bomb fell nearby bringing them back to reality.

“Doctor, that bomb…” Josie said.

“Taken care of it”, the Doctor assured her.

“How?” Josie asked.

“Psychology”, he replied gesturing at Nancy and Jamie.

The bomb hurtles towards them and is suddenly stopped when it got caught by a blue force field. A moment later, Jack appeared sitting astride the bomb. “Doctor!” he called down to him.

“Good lad!” the Doctor cheered.

“The bomb's already commenced detonation. I've put it in stasis but it won't last long”, Jack explained.

“Change of plan. Don't need the bomb. Can you get rid of it, safely as you can?” the Doctor asked and Jack nodded.

“Jo, you really are one of a kind”, Jack said again “keep the Doc on his toes ok?”

Josie gave him a two fingered salute “aye! Aye Captain!” she said. Jack chuckled before he beamed himself and the bomb on board his ship. The remaining humans and Time Lord watched the American’s ship fly away. “What are you doing?” Josie asked as the Doctor summoned the nanogenes.

“Software patch. Going to email the upgrade” The Doctor threw the nanogenes away, towards the gas mask people. He grinned as they all fell to the ground, nanogenes surrounding them. “Everybody lives Earth Girl!” he hugged Josie, lifting her off her feet. She laughed as he spun around “Just this once, everybody lives!” the Doctor said ecstatically.

He set her back down on her feet and they walked over to Doctor Constantine. “Doctor Constantine. Who never left his patients. Back on your feet, constant doctor. The world doesn't want to get by without you just yet, and I don't blame it one bit” the Doctor gestured to the former gas masked people “These are your patients. All better now”.

“Yes, yes…so it seems. They also seem to be standing around in a disused railway station. Is there any particular reason for that?” Doctor Constantine asked confused.

“Uh…budget cuts?” Josie offered.

“Listen, whatever was wrong with them in the past, you're probably going to find that they're cured” the Doctor told the bewildered Doctor Constantine “Just tell them what a great doctor you are. Don't make a big thing of it. Okay?” the human doctor nodded.

The Doctor took Josie’s hand and walked quickly back to Nancy and Jamie. He let go of Josie’s hand and climbed on top of the Chula ambulance “Right, you lot. Lots to do. Beat the Germans, save the world. Don't forget the welfare state!” the Doctor said loudly to Doctor Constantine who smiles. The Time Lord jumped down and went to work on the control panel. “Setting this to self-destruct, soon as everybody's clear. History says there was an explosion here. Who am I to argue with history?”

“If I was going by my dreams…you’re usually the first in line”, Josie answered.

\---------------------

The pair entered the TARDIS, the Doctor was still extremely happy. “The Nanogenes will clean up the mess and switch themselves off, because I just told them to. Nancy and Jamie will go to Doctor Constantine for help, ditto. All in all, all things considered, fantastic!” Josie laughed at his happiness.

The Doctor threw out his arms “And everybody lives!  Everybody lives! I need more days like this Josie”. 

“Doctor…” Josie began but the Doctor continued as though he hadn’t heard her. Which was probably the case.

“Go on, ask me anything. I'm on fire!”

“What about Jack?” Josie asked, the Doctor’s grin faded.

“What about him?” the Time Lord asked.

“Should we help him or something? He did put his life on the line to stop that bomb”, Josie said.

The Doctor knew she had a point. But there was a part of himself that didn’t want anyone else tagging along in the TARDIS. He’d much rather it be himself and Josie. “We’ll help him”, he said earning a big smile from the black haired woman. It didn’t take long for him to manoeuvre the TARDIS to the hatch of Jack’s ship.

“I’ll be back in two secs”, Josie said to the Time Lord before she pelted down the ramp and out of the TARDIS’s door. She bit her lip and slowly crept along towards Jack, who was sitting on a chair with his back to her. “BOO!” she suddenly shouted making the American practically jump a foot in the air.

“Jo! You scared the life out of me!” Jack exclaimed, hand over his heart.

“Sorry”, she giggled “couldn’t resist”.

“How the heck did you get on board?” Jack asked.

“Well…that’s down to the Doctor’s very nifty manoeuvring”, Josie said turning back to the open hatch showing Jack the fact that the TARDIS was right there. “Captain Jack Harkness, would you like to come aboard the good ship TARDIS thereby living another day?” the woman asked offering her arm.

Jack laughed “Yes, Miss Josie Turner, I would”, he said and linked his arm through hers. The Doctor felt a slight stab of jealousy watching them walk into the TARDIS arm in arm, both smiling. “Its much bigger on the inside”, Jack remarked as Josie closed the doors.

“You think this is impressive, wait till you see the rest of it”, Josie said. The Doctor turned away from them and worked at the controls moving the TARDIS away Jack’s ship before it exploded.

“There’s more?” Jack asked looking around the console room, still in a bit of awe.

“Oh, yes. I’ve only been here a little while an I haven’t seen all of it yet”, Josie answered “maybe later we could go for a bit of an explore”, she suggested.

Jack smiled at her “I’d like that”, he said.

The Doctor’s jaw clenched, feeling another twinge of jealousy. And then he smirked, getting an idea. He flicked a switch and _In The Mood_ began to play through the speakers around the console room. Josie looked at him, mildly amused as he began to dance on the spot, snapping his fingers.

“Shall we dance?” the Doctor asked holding out his hand to Josie.

“I can’t dance Doctor”, Josie replied. 

“Course you can”, the Doctor said stepping forward taking hold of her hand and pulled her towards him.

“Sorry”, Josie muttered as she stumbled while they danced.

“Its ok. Just relax Josie”, the Doctor said quietly “let the music take you”. Josie did as he said and soon found it which much easier. A smile crept onto her face as they moved around the console room. Jack watched them with a smile of his own. Despite the little rocky start, the Doctor and Josie were now dancing in synch, prefect partners.

“Whoa!” Josie exclaimed when the Doctor suddenly dipped her.

“See? You _can_ dance”, the Time Lord said.

“Well, you are good teacher, Spaceman”, Josie said.

“And you’re a quick learner, Earth Girl”, the Doctor told her. They exchanged smiles. Jack averted his gaze when Josie leant against the Doctor happily.


	18. Maggie the Slitheen part 1

Josie lay stretched out on the captain's chair, ankles crossed, reading Chamber of Secrets. The Doctor was up in the gantry doing some work. Jack walked over to the captain's chair leaning over the back making his head conceal the pages Josie was reading. “Oh you've got to a good bit", he commented.

“Have I?” Josie asked “Well you better move your big head out of the way so I can read".

“I do not have a big head Jo", Jack said.

“Yes, you do. It matches your big ego. Now shift it!” she ordered and lightly swatted his head with the book. Jack quickly withdrew it as he didn't want to get hit a second time. The Doctor had watched this interaction with a smile. It had become clear during their past couple of trips that Jack and Josie’s relationship was clearly platonic. Which pleased him greatly.

Suddenly there was a knock at the TARDIS door. Josie sat up and looked at the doors confused. “Anyone expecting a visitor?” Jack asked.

“Not me”, Josie said. She glanced up at the Doctor “Spaceman?”

“I’m not expecting anyone Earth Girl”, the Time Lord replied. Jack crossed the grilled floor, opened the door and stuck his head out. “Who the hell are you?” he demanded to the black man who was standing outside. 

“What do you mean, who the hell am I? Who the hell are you?” Mickey asked equally as rudely.

“Captain Jack Harkness. Whatever you’re selling, we're not buying”, Jack said.

“Get out of my way!” Mickey barged past Jack to enter the TARDIS.

The Doctor paused in his work up in the gantries to look down at the man “Here comes trouble! How're you doing, Ricky boy?” he said cheerfully.

“It's Mickey!” Mickey called up to him.

“You do realise that he actually does know your name, he’s just calling you Ricky to wind you up”, Josie said setting her book aside and standing up “Just don’t let it get to you”.

“I’ll try”, Mickey said.

“As a wise green alien once said ‘do or do not. There is no try’”, Josie told him “So! What brings you to Cardiff Mick?”

“Well I came to apologise on Rose’s behalf”, Mickey said “I know what she did to you Josie. She let it slip a couple of days ago. And I’m really, really sorry. I never thought she was capable of something like that”.

“I appreciate you coming to apologise Mickey”, Josie said hearing the sincerity in his voice “but um how did you know we were in Cardiff?”

“Some Scottish bloke told me where you were”, Mickey answered “rather serious look on his face. Thought he was going to have a go at me!”

“Was he an older man with these rather bushy eyebrows?” Josie questioned.

“Yeah, he did”, Mickey said “who is he?”

Josie shrugged “got no clue. I only met him once when I was a kid”, she said.

“So what are you guys doing in Cardiff anyway?” Mickey asked “And who the hell's Jumping Jack Flash?” he eyed the American “I mean, he’s kind of…

“Handsome?” Jack offered with a grin.

“More like cheesy”, Mickey corrected.

“Early twenty first Century slang. Is cheesy good or bad?” Jack asked.

“It's bad”, Josie told him.

“But bad means good, isn't that right Jo?” Jack questioned.

Josie shook her head “’fraid not”, she said “and in answer to your earlier question, we had to stop off in Cardiff to refuel”.

“Cardiff has this rift running through the middle of the city. You can’t see it as its invisible. And the rift was healed back in 1869”, the Doctor explained.

“That was thanks to a girl called Gwyneth”, Josie added trying to recall that particular adventure she witnessed through her dreams “there were these creatures call the Gelth who were, they were using the rift like a gateway. But due to Gwyneth’s sacrifice, the rift was closed”.

“But closing a rift always leaves a scar, and that scar generates energy, harmless to the human race”, Jack put in.

However, its perfect for the TARDIS, so just park it here for a couple of days right on top of the scar and open up the engines, soak up the radiation…” the Doctor continued.

“Its kinda like filling the TARDIS up with petrol”, Josie told Mickey, who nodded somewhat understanding of that analogy “and off we go!”

“Into time!”  Jack cheered.

“And space!” Jack, Josie and the Doctor said together high fiving each other.

“My God, have you seen yourselves?” Mickey said, staring at them in disbelief “You all think you're so clever, don't you?”

“Yeah!” the Doctor grinned.

“Yep!”  Jack agreed.

“I wouldn’t go with far Mick”, Josie said.

“Oh, come on Earth Girl”, the Doctor put an arm around her “you _are_ clever. How many times do I have to tell you?”

Josie gave him a small smile “maybe just once more”, she said.

“You are clever Josie”, the Doctor repeated “and don’t you forget it”.

“Ok, I won’t”, Josie promised. 

\---------------------------

The four of them stepped out of the TARDIS “Should take another twenty four hours, which means we've got time to kill”, the Doctor said.

“That lady's staring”, Mickey said noticing a brown haired woman in her 40’s looking in their direction. Josie eyed the woman curiously, there was something about her that reminded a little of Nancy. Though she couldn’t be entirely sure from this distance.

“She’s probably wondering what four people could do inside a small wooden box…” Jack pats the Doctor suggestively on the shoulder.

“What are you captain of? The Innuendo Squad?” Mickey asked. Josie grinned at him.

“Good one Mick”, she said in approval.

Jack makes the ‘whatever’ sign and walked off. “Wait! Er, the Tardis, we can't just leave it. Doesn't it get noticed?” Mickey asked concerned about leaving the box sitting there.

“Yeah, what's with the police box?” Jack stopped walking and looked back at the TARDIS “Why does it look like that?”

“It's called a chameleon circuit. The Tardis is meant to disguise itself wherever it lands, like if this was Ancient Rome, it'd be a statue on a plinth or something. But I landed in the 1960s, it disguised itself as a police box, and the circuit got stuck”, the Doctor explained.

Josie snorted “it didn’t get stuck, you broke it”, she said.

“I did not”, The Doctor said quickly.

“Uh, yeah you did”, Josie insisted “I have dreams about your adventures remember?”

“Wait, you had dreams about the Doctor’s adventures?” Mickey asked confused.

“Yes. I’ve been having them for years. Didn’t really know why until I told the Doctor. According to him I’m some sort of ‘Dream Psychic’”, Josie explained.

“And you’re a bit of an odd case aren’t you Jo?” Jack asked giving her a look “only having dreams about the Doctor”. Josie had told him about being a Dream Psychic when she’d inadvertently disturbed him by crying out in her sleep. She couldn’t really remember what the dream was about but it left her with this bad feeling in the pit of her stomach.

“Yeah…we still haven’t figured out why that is yet”, Josie told Mickey.

“So why don’t you just fix the circuit Doc?” Jack asked the Time Lord.

“I like it”, the Doctor said “Don’t you?”

“I love it”, Josie said patting the TARDIS fondly.

“But that's what I meant!” Mickey exclaimed “There's no police boxes anymore, so doesn't it get noticed?”

“Ricky, let me tell you something about the human race. You put a mysterious blue box slap bang in the middle of town and what do we do?” the Doctor puts his hands on Mickey’s shoulders. The black man opens his mouth to reply but doesn’t get a chance as the Doctor continued “Walk right past it. Now let’s go explore!”

He held out his hand to Josie who took it. They walked off, Jack and Mickey following behind them. “So…what’s the plan Batman?” the black haired woman asked.

“I don't know”, the Doctor replied “Cardiff, early twenty first century and the wind's coming from the…east. Trust me, safest place in the universe”.

“Ooh boy, I really hope you haven’t jinxed things Spaceman”, Josie said in a warning tone.

~cafe~

“I swear, six feet tall and with big tusks…” Jack said. He was currently telling The Doctor, Josie and Mickey a rather weird story from when he was a Time Agent.

“You're lying through your teeth”, the Doctor accused.

“I mean, it turns out the white things are tusks and I mean tusks! And it's woken, and it's not happy and we're standing there, fifteen of us, naked...and I'm like, oh, no, no, it's got nothing to do with me! And then it roars, and we are running! Oh my God, we are running! And Brakovitch falls, so I turn to him and I say…”

“I knew we should've turned left!” Josie shouted. All four of them burst out into laughter.

“That's my line Jo!” Jack exclaimed.

“Snooze ya loose Jack", Josie grinned.

The Doctor then noticed the newspaper that the old man at the other table was reading he stood up and took it from the man. “And I was having such a nice day”, he said showing the others the picture on the front page.

“You've got to be kidding me”, Josie complained. She thought they were rid of the Slitheen. But no. It seemed that  Margaret the Slitheen had somehow survived the bombing of 10 Downing Street. To make matters worse, she was the new mayor of Cardiff.

\--------------

They strode into Town Hall, Josie filling Jack in on who the woman on the newspaper was. “According to intelligence…” he winked at Josie “the target is the last surviving member of the Slitheen family, a criminal sect from the planet Raxacoricofallapatorius, masquerading as a human being, zipped inside a skin suit. Okay, plan of attack, we assume a basic fifty seven/ fifty six strategy, covering all available exits on the ground floor. Doctor, you go face to face. That'll designate Exit One, I'll cover Exit Two. Jo, you Exit Three. Mickey Smith, you take Exit Four”.

“Excuse me. Who's in charge?” the Doctor asked.

“Sorry” Jack apologised “Awaiting orders, ma’am”, he glanced at Josie with a grin.

“Oi!” the Doctor protested “she’s not in charge, I am”.

Josie looked at him, amused “for a 900 year old alien, you sounded rather like a child just then”, she remarked “and that is a good plan…although I’m not sure the Doctor is the right one for the face to face”.

“And why not Earth Girl?” the Time Lord asked.

“Would you like me to list the reasons alphabetically or chronologically?” Josie countered “cos we’ll be here all day. But if I have to choose one reason then I have just two words: Nestene Consciousness”.

“I wasn’t that bad”, The Doctor said.

Josie raised her eyebrows “oh yeah? Weren’t you the one who told it to...’shunt off’?”

“I didn’t say that”, the Doctor said defensively.

“Actually, you did”, Mickey spoke up “I was there, remember?”

Josie gave the Doctor a smug look. “I think maybe I should be the one to face Maggie the Slitheen”, she suggested.

“That’s not happening Josie”, the Doctor said firmly “I _will_ be facing her, you stay on exit three”.

Josie gave him a two fingered salute “sir, yes, sir”, she said. The Doctor couldn’t help but smile at her, his seriousness gone as quickly as it had come. The four of them took out phones, pressing a button on each to connect them all together so that they could stay in contact.

“See ya in hell”, Jack said giving them a lazy grin before strolling off to the right. The Doctor and Josie walked straight ahead for a bit before splitting off to their designated exits. Mikey lingered for a bit as he worked out which way he was supposed to go. Once he figured it out, he went off.

\-------------

Josie paced in the hall waiting for the call from the Doctor to say that Margret was escaping. She didn’t have to wait long before the Time Lord’s voice came through her phone.

“Slitheen heading north”

“10-4 spaceman”, Josie said, hanging up and started to run. She rounded a corner, pushing past two secretaries, sending their paperwork tumbling out of their hands. “Sorry!” she called not even slowing down for a second. She did feel bad about that, unfortunately she didn’t have time to help them pick up the papers, she had a Slitheen to stop.

The black haired woman burst through a door and out of Town Hall. She dashed around the outside of a building, cutting off Margret’s escape. The Slitheen hissed at her angrily, turned and hurried off in another direction.

 _Does she seriously think she can outrun me?_ Josie thought chasing after her. The Slitheen wasn’t exactly in the body of an athlete. She was using the body of a rather plump, middle aged woman.

Eventually, Josie, the Doctor and Jack converged at one end, watching as Margret ran down the only other exit. “Who's on Exit Four?!” Jack asked.

“Mickey”, Josie answered

The man in question ran up, panting from the run “Here I am”, he said.

“Mickey the idiot” the Doctor shook his head.

“Well, to be fair she isn’t exactly gonna outrun us is she?” Mickey remarked, unknowingly voicing Josie’s earlier thought.

At those words the Slitheen vanished in a flash of blue light. “She's got a teleport! That's cheating! Now we're never going to get her!” Jack cried, annoyed.

“Don’t worry Jack, spaceman here is extremely good at teleports”, Josie told him.

The Doctor took out his sonic, holds it up and pressed the button. Margret reappeared, this time running straight at them. The moment she realised this, she turned and hurried away, vanishing once again. The Doctor brought her back with a single press of the button on his sonic.

Margret repeated the action of running away from them, activating her teleport once more. The Doctor held out the sonic to Josie “wanna have a go?” he offered.

“Really?” she asked, her eyes lighting up at the prospect of using the sonic once more.

“Absolutely”, the Doctor answered. Josie took it from him and with a grin, she pressed the button making the female Slitheen appear for the third time. Once more Margret made herself vanish with the teleport. Josie simply got her back again with a press of the sonic.

“That was kinda fun”, Josie commented “and rather satisfying too” she added smirking at how exhausted Margret seemed to be.

Margret put her hands up “This is persecution. Why can't you leave me alone? What did I ever do to you?” she complained.

“You tried to kill me and destroy this entire planet”, the Doctor stated.

“Apart from that”, Margret said.  


	19. Maggie the Slitheen part 2

The group escorted Margret back into City Hall. “So, you're a Slitheen, you're on Earth, you're trapped. Your family get killed but you teleport out just in the nick of time. You have no means of escape. What do you do? You build a nuclear power station”, the Doctor gestured to the model in the middle of the room. Jack looked at it interest while Josie’s attention was caught by the posters on the walls. Mickey was also eyeing the model “But what for?”

“A philanthropic gesture. I've learnt the error of my ways”, Margaret replied.

Josie snorted and turned to the female Slitheen “You? learn the error of your ways?” she scoffed “maybe when hell freezes over”.

The Doctor walked over to the model and studied it closely “This station is designed to explode the minute it reaches capacity”, he stated “and as it’s on the rift…”

“The entire planet would go schwwwupboom!” Jack finished, making an exploding gesture.

“But why would she do that?” Mickey asked “A great big explosion, she'd only end up killing herself”.

“She's got a name, you know”, Margaret muttered.

“She's not even a she, she's a…thing”, Mickey retorted eyeing the disguised Slitheen.

The Doctor eyed Margret “Oh, but she's clever….” And in one swift movement, he pulled off the middle section of the model, flipping it over to reveal a giant circuit board underneath “Fantastic”.

“Is that a tribophysical waveform macro-kinetic extrapolator?!” Jack asked excitedly.

“Couldn't have put it better myself”, the Doctor said.

Jack took it off him for a better look “ooh, genius!” he looked at Margret “You didn't build this”.

“I have my hobbies. A little tinkering…”

“No, no, no. I mean, you really didn't build this. Way beyond you”, Jack said waving her off.

“I bet she stole it”, Mickey accused.

“It fell into my hands”, Margaret said defensively.

“Right”, Josie said slowly “it ‘fell’ into your hands” she repeated putting air quotes around the word fell “face it Mags, that’s just another way of saying you pinched it”. She then turned back to the poster frowning, there was something about it…the wording that was almost familiar…

“But what exactly is that thing?” Mickey asked nodding to the extrapolator in Jack’s hands “what does it do?”

“Its transport”, Jack replied, setting it down on the floor “the extrapolator protects you with a force field so when the power station explodes, you’d be safe. You can ride the resulting shock wave all the way out of the solar system”.

“It's a surfboard!” Mickey exclaimed.

“A pan-dimensional surfboard, yeah”, Jack agreed.

“And it would've worked. I’d have surfed away from this dead end dump and back to civilisation”, Margaret said bitterly.

“You'd blow up a whole planet just to get a lift?” Mickey asked incredulous.

“Like stepping on an anthill”, Margaret shrugged.

“Blaidd Drwg”, Josie said suddenly “what’s it mean?”

“Nothing. Just a couple of Welsh words I chose at random”, Margret answered, not seeing any importance in it.

“They have to mean something”, Josie insisted. The Doctor moved to stand by her side.

“They do mean something: Bad Wolf”, he told her.

She stared at him “Did you say Bad Wolf?” she asked, really hoping she’d misheard him.

“Yes, I did”, the Doctor confirmed “Josie…what’s wrong?” he asked seeing the worried look that had crossed her face.

“Those words…everywhere…even in my dreams”, the black haired woman wrapped her arms around herself. The Doctor put an arm around her, he didn’t like to see her so worried.

“They’re just words”, he said gently “can’t hurt you”.

“But they’ve been everywhere we’ve been”, Josie insisted, the dream she had was flooding back. It was essentially a montage of those two words. And they _had_ been everywhere they’d gone, even in the adventures the Doctor had with Rose prior to her meeting them.

“It’s just a coincidence Earth Girl” the Doctor said assuredly “like hearing a word on the radio then hearing it all day”.

Josie turned her gaze back to the poster “Just a coincidence”, she repeated, though she wasn’t so sure like the Doctor.

“Exactly”, the Doctor said gently squeezing her shoulder “but don’t worry about it, we’ve got things to do like taking Margret back home”.

“You mean back to that planet with the really long name?” Josie asked “what was it again?”

“Raxacoricofallapatorius”, the Doctor replied.

“Raxac…” Josie started but frowned as she couldn’t get her mouth around the rest of the word “Raxacoricofalla…uh falla…”

“…patorius” the Doctor finished for her.

“Raxacoricofallapatorius”, Josie repeated. She brightened “Hey! I did it!” she said happily.

The Doctor grinned at her “Well done, Earth Girl”, he said.

“Thanks Spaceman”, Josie said “couldn’t have done it without ya”.

“I’m sure you’d get there in the end Jo”, Jack said to the woman “you’re pretty clever, isn’t that right Doc?”

“Absolutely Jack”, the Doctor agreed giving the black haired woman another squeeze “my clever Earth Girl”.

“I hate to break it to you Doctor but she’s not yours, she’s mine”, Jack said. He darted forward and tugged Josie out from the Doctor’s grip. She giggled as the 51st century man picked her up and pretended to make off with her. The Time Lord chuckled at their playful antics, really, really glad that their relationship was more sibling than anything else.

Mickey shook his head at the pair. He was happy to see Josie laughing and joking. He knew she didn’t deserve the treatment Rose had given her.

“They have the death penalty”, Margaret suddenly spoke up, making Jack stop and turn back. Josie’s smile had faded and so did the Doctor’s. Even Mickey’s happy demeanour was gone.

\--------------------------

They took Margret back to the TARDIS, the only real secure place to hold the Slitheen until the ship had fuelled up enough so that they could take her home. The disguised Slitheen looked around the TARDIS in awe. “This ship is impossible!” she exclaimed “It's superb. How do you get the outside around the inside?”

“You really think we’d tell YOU the secret”, Josie scoffed flopping down on the Captain’s chair, picked up her book and started to read.

“I almost feel better about being defeated”, Margret reached out a hand to touch the console when Josie called out warningly.

“I’d keep your hands to yourself if I were you” the Slitheen glanced at the woman “she doesn’t exactly like the fact you’re in here. And if you start getting handsy, she’ll make her dislike known” Josie lowered her book and eyed Margaret “So unless you wanna be dumped into a freezing cold swimming pool or have anything equally unpleasant happen, DO. NOT. TOUCH” and with that Josie went back to reading her book. The Doctor smirked at the easily Josie seemed handle the Slitheen. It was very amusing to see the alien put in her place by his Earth Girl that’s for sure. He turned to Jack who was working on the extrapolator.

“Jack, how we doing, big fella?” he asked.

“This extrapolator's top of the range” Jack peers around at Margret “Where did you get it?”

“Oh, I don't know… Some airlock sale…?” Margret said vaguely.

“In other words…you pinched it”, Josie stated not looking away from her book “just like I said earlier”.

“Must've been a great big heist. It's stacked with power”, Jack remarked.

“But we can use it for fuel?” the Doctor asked.

“It's not compatible…but it should knock off about twelve hours”, Jack replied “We'll be ready to go by morning”.

“Then we're stuck here. Overnight”, the Doctor said, none too happy about that. He didn’t particularly want Margaret in the TARDIS any longer than absolutely necessary. Maybe he could get Mickey to take Josie out for a bit, keep her away from the Slitheen.

“I'm in no hurry…” Margaret said. She wasn’t too keen to go back home to her death. “Though…I do wonder are you all quite comfortable with the fact that you’re going to be taking me to be executed?”

“Well, you deserve it”, Mickey said coldly.

“You're very quick to say so. You're very quick to soak your hands in my blood, which makes you better than me, how, exactly…?” Mickey doesn’t have an answer for this “Long night ahead…” she said walking over to the railing, leaning slightly against it “Let's see who can look me in the eye”.

Margaret fixes Mickey with a calm, collected gaze. He managed to hold it for a few seconds before adverting his eyes. The Time Lord glanced up from the console briefly before going back to his work. Margret turned her attention to Josie only to find the young woman was already looking steadily at her with those dark blue eyes.

In the end it was the Slitheen who looked away first. Josie turned back to her book, pleased she’d won the little staring contest. In truth, she didn’t want to look at Margret but seeing how uncomfortable the Slitheen was making her friends feel…well…she wasn’t going to stand for it.


	20. Maggie the Slitheen part 3

“Bloody hell, its freezing out here!” Josie exclaimed to Mickey when they stepped out of the TARDIS. She shivered as she quickly buttoned up her navy blue pea coat. Coincidently, the Doctor had insisted that she take a coat when he told her and Mickey to leave the TARDIS. He must’ve known it was going to be cold outside.

“Better than in there”, Mickey remarked  “She _does_ deserve it. She's a Slitheen” he then shook his head “actually I don’t really care what happens. I’m just glad to be out of the TARDIS. It's weird in that box”.

“Its not that weird Mickey”, Josie said.

“The bigger-on-the-inside thing didn’t weird you out at all when you first stepped inside?” Mickey asked her.

Josie shook her head “Nope, not at all. When you’ve had dreams about the Doctor’s adventures since you were a kid, you would’ve seen weirder”, she said.

“Yeah, how did that come about?” Mickey asked, curious “where you born with it or…?”

“We’re leaning towards that possibility”, Josie said “the Doctor has a theory that I may be distantly related to another Dream Psychic, Nostradamus…that I may have inherited a variant of the gift from him. Though we still have no clue why its only the Doctor’s adventures I see in my dreams”.

“I’m sure you guys will figure it out eventually”, Mickey assured her.

“Yeah…we will”, Josie agreed “do you want to grab a pizza or something?” she asked “I’m hungry”.

“Sure”, Mickey said. The pair headed off toward Mermaid Quay to grab a bite to eat.

**\--------------**

“You, know the Doctor took me to this planet which was much colder than here”, Josie remarked while they ate “It was called Woman Wept”.

Mickey raised his eyebrows “Woman Wept?” he said incredulously.

“Yeah it sounds strange but it’s a rather appropriate for the planet. If you look at it from above, there’s this continent, like all curved round. It sort of looked like a woman, you know, lamenting”, Josie explained “we stopped by this beach, the sea was pretty rough because of a storm and then all of a sudden the entire thing just froze. Around Midnight we walked under waves several hundred tall, made of ice” Josie shook her head, a smile on her face “it was pretty incredible”.

“Sounds like it was fun”, Mickey commented.

“It was pretty fun”, Josie agreed “So…um…how have you been?” she asked “aside from getting your ear talked off from Rose’s venting about me”.

“I’ve been fine. I’m actually going out with someone”, Mickey said.

“Who?” Josie asked.

“Trisha Delaney”, Mickey answered.

“Delaney…that’s sounds familiar”, Josie muttered “Does she have an older brother named Rob?” she asked louder.

“Yeah, she does”, Mickey answered “you know Rob Delaney?”

“He’s a co worker of mine at the book store”, Josie answered “nice guy”. Suddenly there was a deep rumble, glasses on the table shaking. Then the glass windows shattered causing customers to scream and take cover from the flying shards.

“What the hell is going on?” Mickey asked Josie after they dove under the table.

“I don’t know”, Josie answered “but I think we should get to the TARDIS ASAP”. Mickey nodded in agreement. The pair got up from under the table and quickly left the restaurant. They ran through the chaos filled streets back to where the TARDIS was. “I’m gonna say that’s not normal”, Mickey stated eyeing the cracks appearing in the ground.

“Nope”, Josie agreed. Despite several stumbles and trips over the cracks, they made it to the blue box without in one piece. “What is it? What's happening?!” she exclaimed as she and Mickey entered the shaking ship.

“Oh, just little me”, Margaret said gleefully freeing one of her arms from her skin suit and grabbed Josie by the neck with her claw. “One wrong move and she snaps like a promise”, she threatened when the Doctor darted forward.  

“I might've known”, the Doctor said glaring at the Slitheen holding black haired woman hostage.

“I've had you bleating all night, poor baby, now shut it” Margaret turned to Jack “You, fly boy, put the extrapolator at my feet”, she ordered.

“Jack…don’t”, Josie choked out causing Margaret to tighten her grip on her neck. Jack looked at the Doctor for help and he nods. Jack places the extrapolator near her feet.

“Thank you. Just as I planned”, Margaret sneered.

“I thought you needed to blow up the nuclear power station”, Mickey said with a frown.

“Failing that, if I were to be… arrested…then anyone capable of tracking me down would have considerable technology of their own. Therefore, they would be captivated by the extrapolator. Especially a magpie mind like yours, Doctor. So the extrapolator was programmed to go to plan B!” Margaret roughly tugged on a chunk of Josie’s hair making her wince and making the Doctor angrier. He couldn’t lose his temper. If he did, Margaret would kill his Earth Girl. “To lock onto the nearest alien power source and open the rift” she looks around the TARDIS in awe “And what a power source it found… I'm back on schedule… thanks to you”.  

“The rift's going to convulse. You'll destroy the whole planet”, The Doctor angrily.

“And you with it!” Margaret stepped onto the extrapolator still holding Josie by the neck “While I ride this board over the crest of the inferno all the way to freedom. Stand back, boys… Surf's up”.

The panel in front of Margaret suddenly bursts open and a blinding light floods out. Margaret looks at in surprise and then up at the Doctor who was on the other side of the console.

“Of course, opening the rift means you'll pull this ship apart”, The Doctor said calmly.

“So sue me”, Margaret said, not entirely bothered.

“It's not just any old power source. It's the TARDIS. My TARDIS. The best ship in the universe”, the Doctor told her.

“It'll make wonderful scrap”, Margaret said nastily.

“What's that light?” Mickey asked noticing it from his spot by the TARDIS doors.

“The heart of the TARDIS. This ship's alive”, Josie gasped. Breathing heavily, Margaret stares into the light as if forgetting everything else. The Slitheen’s grip loosened Josie’s neck allowing her to move away. Mickey tugged Josie away from Margaret who was still staring awestruck at the golden light. They all watched as the Slitheen was engulfed by it, the empty body suit crumples onto the extrapolator.

“Don't look”, the Doctor said he started to dart around the console. Jack did so, Mickey and Josie also averting their eyes. The Doctor slammed several levers down to close the slightly open panel, shutting out the light. “Now, Jack, come on, shut it all down. Shut down!” Jack rushes over to the console to help him. The TARDIS finally stopped shuddering. “Nicely done”, the Time Lord remarked.  

“What happened to the Slitheen?” Mickey asked turning around. Josie went around to where Margaret’s skin suit and knelt down.

“She became an egg”, she replied gingerly picking it up from the suit “Margaret the Slitheen gets a second chance”.


	21. Living nightmare returns part 1

_Ugh my head_ Josie groaned when she came to. She slowly sat up to come face to face with a dark skinned man. “What happened?” she mumbled.

“It's all right… It's the transmat”, the man, Roderick said gently “Does your head in” Josie had a look around at her surroundings with a frown on her face. “Get a bit of amnesia. What's your name?”

“Jo, I think”, Josie replied, frowning as she tired to remember.

“Just remember do what the android says. Don't provoke it. The android's word is law”, Roderick said firmly.

“What do you mean, ‘android’s word is law’?” Josie questioned.

“Just do what it says and you’ll be fine”, Roderick said. Josie couldn’t help but think he was being rather evasive. He took her hands and pulled her to her feet. As he did so, a glint caught Josie’s eye. She glanced down to see a jade pendant hanging around her neck. Josie picked it up, frowning at the green stone between her fingers.

“Japan!” she said loudly earning her a confused look from Roderick “That’s where we’d just come from, The Doctor, Jack and me”, she explained “But…where are they?” the young woman asked looking around and not seeing her friends anywhere. And she knew that they wouldn’t leave her, not unless they didn’t have a choice.

“That's enough chat! Positions! Final call!” the woman with the clip board called out standing next to an inactive robot. 6 podiums surround the raised podium the robot was on. The set up looked very familiar.

“Listen, this is a mistake. I’m not supposed to be here”, Josie insisted.

“It says Jo on the podium”, the man said. Josie ’s eyes widened as sure enough there was the name ‘Jo’ lit up on one of the podiums. He dashed over to stand behind a podium with the name Roderick on it.  “Come on!” he called to young woman. Josie went over and stood behind her own podium. She looked around and it finally clicked, she knew exactly where she was.

It was confirmed when the android raised its head after being activated and said “Welcome to The Weakest Link!”

Josie knew there was no point panicking, she’d just do as best as she could and hope that the Doctor and Jack could find her. “…Three, and cue!”

“Let's play ‘The Weakest Link’” Music played “Start the clock. Agorax, the name of which basic food stuff is an anagram of the word 'beard'?”

 _Bread_ Josie thought. “Bread”, Agorax replied.

“Correct. Fitch in the Pan Traffic Calendar, which month comes after Hoob?”

“Is it Clavadoe?” Fitch guessed.

“No, Pandoff. Jo, in maths, what is 258 minus 158?”

“One hundred”, Josie replied glad that it was an easy question. She knew they weren’t all going to be like that.

“Correct. Rodrick”

“Bank”, Roderick said quickly before Anne Droid asked the question.

“Which letter of the alphabet appears in the word dangle but not in the word gland?”

 _E_ Josie thought. “E”, Roderick answered easily.

“Correct. Colleen, in social security, what D is the name of the payment given to Martian Drones?”

“Default”, Colleen said.

“Correct. Broff, the Great Cobalt Pyramid is built on the remains of which famous Old Earth Institute?”

“Er…Touchdown”, Broff said a little uncertain.

“No, Torchwood. Agorax, in language, all five examples of which type of letter appear in the word facetious?”

“Vowels”

“Correct. Fitch, in biology, which blood cells contain iron? Red or white?”

“Um…White” _I knew that one_ Josie thought. She wondered why Fitch looked so down when she got the question wrong. It was only a game after all.

“No, red. Jo, in the holovid series 'Jupiter Rising', the Grexnik is married to whom?”

“I…uh…pass…” Josie answered.

“No, the correct answer is Lord Drayvole”

On the highest level a woman was watching Josie with a frown on her face “why isn’t she bothered by getting those questions wrong?” she asked.

“Rodrick, in maths, what is nine squared?” the Anne Droid asked.

 _81_ Josie said mentally _why didn’t I more questions like that? least I could answer them._

~floor 500~

“Oh, my God… I don't think she knows…” the woman said worried at how laid back Josie was. Pavale, a male programmer looked over her shoulder.

“And I've got a housemate who appeared out of nowhere. I told you, it's like the game's running itself”, the man said.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So, Jo, what do you actually do?” Anne Droid asked while everyone decided who they thought was the Weakest Link.

“I’m a shop assistant a book store”, Josie answered.

“Why Fitch?” Anne Droid questioned.

“She got a few questions wrong”, Josie replied.

“Oh, you'd know all about that”, Anne Droid said with what sounded like sarcasm.

 _Its not my fault! YOU gave me friggin questions on stuff I’ve never even heard of. I’m not the Doctor, just his little companion from 21 st century Earth _Josie shot back, although in her mind instead of out loud. That probably would get her into a lot of trouble.

“Well, yeah, but I can't vote for myself, so it had to be Fitch…” Josie looks at Fitch who was sobbing quietly “I'm sorry…that's the game. That's how it works…I had to vote for someone” she didn’t understand why Fitch was so upset. It was only a game after all. It wasn’t life or death.

“Let me try again. It was the lights and everything. I couldn't think”, Fitch pleaded to the Anne Droid.

“In fact, with three answers wrong, Broff was the weakest link in that round, but its votes that count”

“I'm sorry. Oh please… Oh God, help me!” Fitch begged. She looked around at her fellow constants for help they couldn’t give. Roderick looked away while Broff sobbed into his board he was holding up. Josie looked around at them all still really confused.

“Fitch you are the weakest link. Goodbye!” the Anne Droid’s mouth opened to reveal a gun which fired a gold laser at Fitch. Josie, not having expected it, jumped. She stared at the spot where Fitch once stood, mouth open in horror. What kind of hellish version of the Weakest Link had she gotten herself into?!

“What the hell has just happened?” Josie demanded to Roderick.

“She was the weakest link, she gets disintegrated”, he informed her calmly wiping his board clean. He didn’t even look the least bit upset that someone had just been killed in front of him.

“But I voted for her”, Josie said quietly “I can’t play this. I won’t”. She turned to go when Broff jumped off his own podium and tried to make a run for it and was promptly disintegrated.

“Don't try to escape. It's play… or die”, Roderick told her. Josie stayed where she was. She had no choice, she had to play the game.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next round Colleen was disintegrated. “Colleen was clever. She banked all our money. Why'd you vote for her?” Josie asked cleaning off her board.

“’cos I want to keep you in. You're stupid! You don't even know the Princess Vossaheen's surname”. Josie really wanted to counter with the questions he didn’t get right which included what she knew were very easy questions. However, she decided to bite her tongue this time around. “So it comes to the final, I want to be up against you, so that you get disintegrated and I get a stack load of credits courtesy of the Bad Wolf Corporation”, Roderick continued.

Josie stiffened, her stomach twisting at that dream she had of those two dreaded words. _Maybe I’ve been put in this game on purpose_ she thought _doubt it was to win_ her gaze flickered over to the Anne Droid _but if I lose, I get disintegrated_. This is going to be one puzzle she was going to have to figure out before she got to the final. 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

By the end of the third round it saw Agorax getting disintegrated. That left Josie and Roderick in the head to head. “Right, that's the end of _tactical_ voting” Roderick said wiping off his board “You're on your own now”.

 _I can do this_ Josie thought. She really, really hoped that the Doctor and Jack was going to show up soon. She still had no clue as to why she was there so all she could do was try her best to win the round.

“Jo, in geography, the Grand Central Ravine is named after which ancient British city?” Anne Droid asked Josie. This was her first question in the head to head. Roderick already got one question right.

“York”, Josie guessed. 

“No, the correct answer is Sheffield. Rodrick, in literature, the author of ‘Lucky’ was Jackie who?”

“Stewart”

“No, the correct answer is Collins. Jo, the oldest inhabitant of the Isop Galaxy is the Face of what?”

“Boe” Josie said. She wasn’t despondent about getting her first question wrong. There was still a few questions to go.

“That is the correct answer. Rodrick, in history, who was the President of the Red Velvets?”

“Hoshbin Frane”, Roderick answered.

“That is the correct answer” Roderick was one up on Josie “Jo, in food, the dish Gaffabeque originated on which planet?”

“Mars?” Josie said unsure.

“No, the correct answer is Lucifer. Rodrick, which measurement of length is said to have been defined by the Emperor Jate as the distance from his nose to his fingertip?”

“Would that be a goffle?” Roderick said.

“No, the correct answer is a paab. Jo, in fashion, Stella Pok Baint is famous for what?”

“Uh….shoes?” Josie guessed.

“That is the wrong answer” _bugger_ Josie thought. This made her and Roderick tied in with the answers. “Rodrick, in physics, who discovered the Fifteen Dash Ten Barric Fields?”

“San Chen”, Roderick replied.

“That is the correct answer” Josie knew she had to get the next one right or she was going to be disintegrated.

“Jo, in history, which Icelandic city hosted Murder Spree Twenty?”

Josie stared at the Anne Droid who just stared back at her. “Reykjavik”, the young woman answered.

“No, the correct answer is Pola Ventura”

Josie closed her eyes and dropped her head. She’d lost and there was no sign of Jack and the Doctor.

“Rodrick, you are the strongest link, you will be transported home with one thousand six hundred credits”

“Oh, thank you, thank you so much”, Roderick practically gushed.

“Josie!” 21 year old heard the Doctor shout. She turned her head to see the Doctor and Jack running in. _Oh thank god!_

“Stop this game!” Jack ordered the woman with the clip board, the floor manager.

“Jo, you leave this life with nothing…” Anna Droid said but Josie was focused on her friends that were on the set but too far away.

“Stop this game!” Jack shouted. 

“I order you to stop this game!” the Doctor yelled.

“We’re live on air!” the floor manager shouted at him.

The Doctor raced across the large room as fast as he could. Josie runs towards him, shoving a podium aside. “You are the weakest link” the Anne Droid said behind her.

“Look out for the Anne Droid, it's armed!” Josie cried. When she’s mere feet away from the Doctor, she is shot in the back by the Anne Droid. She let out a scream, disintegrating in front of the horrified Time Lord and 51st century human.

“What the hell did you do to her?” Jack shouted furious striding towards the set.

The Doctor knelt by the pile of dust that used to be Josie feeling numb from shock. He was so close. If he’d only he had been quicker she might be alive right now. But she wasn’t because he was too slow. He was never going to see his Earth Girl again. Never see her smile…or laugh…or joke around with either himself of Jack.

~spaceship~

Josie opened her eyes to find herself somewhere else. She slowly sat up, glad that she was alive. Her relief was short lived when she saw a Dalek! The black haired woman screamed.


	22. Living nightmare returns part 2

Josie sat on the floor, back against the wall staring at the Daleks. She couldn’t believe that there were more of those…monsters. She had been so happy when the Dalek from Van Statten’s museum had killed itself. She really thought that was the end of the Living Nightmare. Looks like she was wrong, big time.

Josie nearly cried in relief when one Dalek announced that the Doctor had located them. The young woman was forced to her feet when a large screen popped up.

On floor 500 the Doctor was glaring at the 3 Dalek’s flanking Josie with distaste. “I will talk to the Doctor”, one of the Daleks said.

“Oh, will you? That's nice. Hello!” the Doctor said, waving at them mockingly.

“The Dalek stratagem nears completion. The fleet is almost ready. You will not intervene”, one of the Dalek stated.

“Oh, really? Why's that, then?” the Doctor asked.

“We have your associate. You will obey or she will be exterminated”, the Dalek said.

“No”, the Doctor said.

Everyone looked at the Doctor surprised by his answer. Josie on the other hand didn’t look too surprised by his response. She had complete faith that he had a plan or an idea or even a ‘thing’ to get her out of the Dalek’s clutches.

“Explain yourself”, one of the Dalek’s demanded.

“I said no”, the Doctor repeated.

“What is the meaning of this negative?” the Dalek asked.

“It means no”, the Doctor simply said.

“But she will be destroyed”, the Dalek said.

The Doctor stood up “No! ‘Cos this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to rescue her. I'm going to save my Earth Girl from the middle of the Dalek fleet. And then I'm going to save the Earth, and then, just to finish off, I'm going to wipe every last stinking Dalek out of the sky!”

Josie grinned hearing the passion in his voice. “But you have no weapons, no defences, no plan”, one of the Daleks pointed out.

“Yeah. And doesn't that scare you to death”, the Doctor taunted “Josie?”

“Yes, spaceman?” Josie asked.

“I'm coming to get you” the Doctor promised, raising his sonic screwdriver ending the transmission.

“The Doctor is initiating hostile action!” one of the Daleks stated.

“The stratagem must advance. Begin the invasion of Earth!” another ordered.

Josie was startled when they started to spin around wildly. She stepped back when one of them rounded on her “You know the Doctor. You understand him. You will predict his actions”, it ordered.

“No”, Josie replied.

“Predict! Predict! Predict!” the Dalek demanded sounding hysterical.

“Go to hell”, she spat.

“TARDIS detected in flight”, a second Dalek said moments after Josie had refused to help them a second time.

“Launch missiles! Exterminate!”

Josie stood there, biting her lip anxiously. Though she had complete faith in her spaceman, that still didn’t stop her worrying. Then she heard something which was like music to her ears. The sound of the TARDIS. She smiled when she saw the faint outline of the blue box slowly appearing around her. Unfortunately she wasn’t the only one the TARDIS materialised around, it appeared around the Dalek that was right next to her.

“Josie , get down!” the Doctor shouted at her. Josie immediately dropped to the grilled floor.

“Exterminate!” the Dalek shouted firing its laser. It completely misses which enables Jack to take it out with the modified Defabricator.

The Doctor hugged Josie tightly when she got to her feet “I told you I'd come and get you”, he said, his hearts calming down now that she was in his arms. They’d been beating like crazy since finding out she was on board a Dalek ship.

“Yes you did”, she said smiling at him.

“You alright?” he asked her.

“I am now”, she replied.

“Hey Jo, don't I get a hug?” Jack asked.

“Of course you do”, Josie said going over and hugged him “I’m never watching _The Weakest Link_ ever again”, she mumbled.

“Shall we go meet the neighbours then?” the Doctor suddenly asked the pair and without waiting for a reply, he left the TARDIS. Josie ran after him knowing that he would be shot on sight. She was surprised when the Dalek rays were stopped by a force field that surrounded the blue box. 

The Doctor took several steps forward while Jack and Josie hung back “Do you know what they call me in the ancient legends of the Dalek Homeworld? The Oncoming Storm. You might've removed all your emotions…but I reckon right down deep in your DNA, there's one little spark left, and that's fear” the Dalek’s eye stalks twitch nervously “Doesn't it just burn when you face me? So tell me. How did you survive the Time War?”

“They survived through me”, a deep voice boomed.

The Doctor turned towards the voice and was startled when Dalek Emperor was illuminated, towering above all of them. “Josie … Captain…this is the Emperor of the Daleks”, the Doctor said staring at the Emperor in awe.

“You destroyed us, Doctor. The Dalek race died in your inferno, but my ship survived, falling through time, crippled but alive”

“I get it”, the Doctor said.

“Do not interrupt!”

“Do not interrupt!”

“Do not interrupt!”

“I think you’re forgetting something. I’m the Doctor. And there’s one thing I can do- its talk” _you’ve got that right_ Josie thought “I’ve got 5 billion languages, and you haven’t got _one_ way of stopping me. So if anybody is gonna shut up, it’s you!” The Doctor grinned when the Daleks rolled back slightly from his words. “Okey doke. So, where were we?” the Doctor asked turning back to the Emperor.

“We waited here in the dark space, damaged but rebuilding. Centuries passed, and we quietly infiltrated the systems of Earth, harvesting the waste of humanity. The prisoners, the refugees, the dispossessed. They all came to us. The bodies were filtered, pulped, sifted. The seed of the human race is perverted. Only one cell in a billion was fit to be nurtured”, the Emperor explained.

“So you created an army of Daleks out of the dead”, the Doctor surmised.

“That makes them half human”, Jack said.

“Those words are blasphemy”, the Emperor declared.

“Do not blaspheme”

“Do not blaspheme”

“Do not blaspheme”

“Everything human has been purged. I cultivated pure and blessed Dalek”, the Emperor said.

“Since when did the Daleks have a concept of blasphemy?” Josie asked.

“I reached into the dirt and made new life. I am the God of all Daleks!” the Emperor declared.

“Someone has got a major ego”, Josie muttered.

“Worship him! Worship him! Worship him!”

“They're insane! Hiding in silence for hundreds of years, that's enough to drive anyone mad”, the Doctor said quietly to Josie and Jack. He looked at the Daleks with pity as he walked forward “But it's worse than that. Driven mad by your own flesh. The stink of humanity” the Doctor shook his head “You hate your own existence. And that makes them more deadly than ever. We're going”.

The Doctor turned around and went back to where Josie and Jack stood. He took the young woman’s hand and walked back to the TARDIS without looking back at the Emperor. Once the Doctor had closed the door, he leans his head against it no longer looking as confident as he was before. Josie went over and hugged him, getting the feeling that he needed it.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When the TARDIS appeared back on floor 500, the Doctor strode out, heading straight for the controls. “Turn everything up. All transmissions, wide open, full power. Now! Do it!” he ordered.

“What does it do?” the Male Programmer asked doing what the Doctor asked.

“Stops the Daleks from transmitting on board”, the Doctor replied “How did you get on? Did you contact Earth?”

“Well, we tried to warn them, but all they did was suspend our license because we stopped the programmes”, the Male Programmer explained.

“So the planet’s defenceless”, Josie said not happy about that.

The Doctor then noticed Lynda, one of the housemates from Big Brother was still there. “What are you still doing on board?” he turned to the Male Programmer “I told you to evacuate everyone”

“She wouldn’t go”

“Didn’t wanna leave ya”, Lynda told the Doctor.

“Who exactly are you?” Josie asked curious about the woman who seemed to know the Doctor. The Time Lord in question walked over to another set of desks.

“Lynda Moss” Lynda replied holding out her hand “and you’re Josie  right?”

“That’s right”, Josie confirmed shaking her hand.

“The Doctor’s told me quite a bit about you”, Lynda told her “Jack too”, and she added nodding to the American man “he said you were one of a kind”.

“According to him, I am”, Josie said.

“Well it is true, you _are_ one of a kind Jo”, Jack stated. They all looked over at the Doctor was he started ripping out wires from the desks.

“Dalek plan. Big mistake, because what have they left me with? Anyone? Anyone?” the Doctor looked at them all expecting someone to answer him. “Oh, come on, it's obvious. A great big transmitter, this station” Jack stared at him trying to work it out “If I can change the signal, fold it back, sequence it, anyone?”

“You've got to be kidding”, he said finally figuring it out.

“Give the man a medal!” the Doctor cheered.

“A Delta Wave?” Jack said incredulous.

“A Delta Wave!” the Doctor said rather excitedly.

“What's a Delta Wave?” Josie asked not knowing what that was.

“A wave of Van Cassadyne energy. It fries your brain. Stand in the way of a Delta Wave and your head gets barbequed”, Jack explained.

“And this place can transmit a massive wave. Wipe out the Daleks!” the Doctor added.

“Well, get started and do it then”, Lynda said.

“Trouble is, wave this size, building this big, brain as clever as mine, should take about, ooh, 3 days?” the Doctor said quickly working it out “How long till the Fleet arrive?”

“Twenty two minutes”, the Male Programmer replied.

The Doctor frantically pulled out another cable from underneath a desk, stared at the end for a second before he looked up and beamed at them all.

A little while later they were all gathered around the computer, the Doctor having used the extrapolator, wiring it up in a way that created a forcefield around Satellite 5. “The forcefield doesn’t stop the Daleks from physically invading”, Jack told them all with the exception of the Doctor who was still working away at the desks.

“Do they know about the Delta Wave?” the Male Programmer asked hoping they didn’t.

“They’ll have worked it out at the same time. So, if they want to stop the Doctor that means they’ve got to get to this level, 500” he indicates on the illustrative diagram on the screen “Now, I can concentrate the extrapolator around the top 6 levels, 500 to 495. So, they’ll penetrate the station below that at level 494 and fight their way up”

“Who’re they fighting?” the male programmer asked

“Us”, Jack replied.

“And…what’re we fighting with?” the male programmer asked worriedly. He’d never fought a day in his life.

“The guards had guns with bastic bullets, that’s enough to blow a Dalek wide open”, Jack explained.

“There’s 5 of us”, the female programmer said skeptically.

“Josie, you can help me”, the Doctor called to the brunette who went over to where he was working.

“What do you need me to do?” she asked.

“Strip those wires for me”, the Doctor replied nodding to a bundle of wires, holding out a tool for her to use. Josie took the tool, sat down and started stripping the wires. She looked up when Lynda came over.

The woman gave them both a brief goodbye before leaving. Then Jack came over to say goodbye. He gave the Doctor a kiss on the lips which didn’t surprise Josie as much as it should have. She was used to Jack Harkness and his flirting ways. “I’m glad to have met you Jo”, Jack said hugging her.

“Me too”, Josie said.

“Do me a favour, keep the Doc on his toes”, Jack said stepping back.

“You got it”, Josie said “anything else?”

“Don’t ever change”, Jack answered “keep being one of a kind”.

“That I can do”, Josie said.

Jack placed a hand on both of their shoulders “see ya both in hell”, he said and ran off. Josie watched him go with a heavy heart. She knew that she wasn’t going to see him again. Even if the Doctor was able to finish the Delta Wave in time, there was no guarantee that they’d even survive it.

The Doctor saw the look on her face. He knew she’d figured out that none of them were going to make it. His gaze flickered over to the TARDIS. There was one thing he can do to prevent Josie sharing his fate. Though it was highly unlikely she was going to forgive him for it. However, he didn’t really care. His Earth Girl’s safety was far more important.

“Hey, Josie could you do me a favour?” he spoke up.

“Sure. What is it?” she asked.

“There’s a doohicky in the TARDIS that’ll help speed up the process of the Delta Wave”, the Doctor replied.

“A doohicky?” Josie laughed “is that a bit smaller than a thingymabob?”

The Doctor grinned “Yeah, just a bit”, he answered.

“Where is this doohicky?” Josie asked.

“Under the console, near the mallet”, the Doctor replied.

“Ok, I’ll go grab it for you”, Josie said. The Doctor watched her go over to the blue box before following. The black haired woman walked around the console, looking underneath for the mysterious doohicky.

Right near the door, the Doctor lifted up his sonic and pressed the button. The engines of the TARDIS started up. Josie looked at the time rotor, startled for a moment before she made a break for doors. They slammed shut.

“Doctor! Let me out!” Josie shouted hitting the door “let me out right now!”

The young woman let out a yell, kicking the door for good measure before she turned around and sat down on the grilled floor, back against the door. “You tricked me, bloody spaceman”, Josie muttered resting her head on her knees.

She did raise her head when she heard the Doctor’s voice “Josie…”. She stood up, staring at the hologram of the Time Lord. “This is Emergency Programme One. If this message is activated, then it can only mean one thing. We must be in danger. And I mean fatal. I'm dead or about to die any second with no chance of escape”, the hologram explained.

“No ship sherlock”, Josie spat.

“And that's okay. Hope it's a good death. I once promised that I’d look after you and that's what I'm doing. The TARDIS s is taking you home”

“Tell me something I don’t know”, Josie sassed.

“And I bet you're cursing and sassing right now. But just hold on and listen a bit more. The TARDIS can never return for me. Emergency Programme One means I'm facing an enemy that should never get their hands on this machine. So this is what you should do. Let the TARDIS die. Just let this old box gather dust. No one can open it. No one'll even notice it. Let it become a strange little thing standing on a street corner. And over the years, the world'll move on and the box will be buried. And if you want to remember me, then you can do one thing. That's all, one thing. Have a good life. Do that for me, Josie. Have a fantastic life”

The hologram vanished.


	23. Living nightmare returns part 3

As soon as it was finished, Josie let loose. “How the hell am I supposed to just walk away from all this?” she demanded, flinging her arm out “You and the Doctor have been a huge part in my life! I can’t just forget you guys because he wants me too and I’m sure as hell not going to let him face the Daleks alone”. Josie fiddled with some controls but they didn’t respond “Come on TARDIS work with me here! Don’t you want to save him?” no response. Josie sighed “I guess this is it then, see ya TARDIS”, she said patting the console fondly.  

Josie turned and walked down the ramp. She placed a hand on the handle, casting one last look at the console room before she pulled the door open. She stepped out and promptly tripped. Josie glanced down to see what her foot had gotten caught on and discovered that is was a box. She bent down and picked it up. Her eyes widened when she saw what was written on the front. It was two words: Little Dreamer, in very familiar handwriting.

Josie tore open the packaging and opened the white box. Nestled in TARDIS blue tissue paper was a gold key. It looked identical to her own TARDIS save for the different colour. Underneath the key was a note on a small slip of paper.

_Little Dreamer_

_The key will save him._

_Good luck._

Josie took out the key, carelessly tossing the box away and re-entered the box. As she got closer to the console the key lifted out of her hand, glowing gold. She watched it float over to the panel containing the heart of the TARDIS. It lowered and slipped into a key hole on the panel that she’d never noticed before.

When the panel opened, golden light spilled out and a chorus of familiar voices filled the air. Somehow Josie knew what she needed to do. She should’ve been frightened but the Doctor’s voices had a calming affect on her and they gave her courage for this very risky thing she was about to do. She moved over to the open panel and almost immediately the golden light streamed into her eyes.

The engines started up, the door swinging shut as it did so.

~Game Station~

The Doctor braced himself for his death when he heard the familiar wheezing of the TARDIS. He stares in shock as the doors fly open to reveal Josie standing there, golden light spilling out around her. When she stepped out, the Doctor stumbled backwards falling to the ground. “What've you done?” the Doctor asked scared.

Josie looked down at him, her dark blue eyes now turned gold from the vortex “I looked into the TARDIS and she looked into me”, she said her voice echoing.

“You looked into the Time Vortex. Josie , no one's meant to see that”, the Doctor said staring at her.

“This is the Abomination!” the Emperor Dalek screamed.

A Dalek fired at her but Josie simply held up her hand. The bolt froze and reversed back into the gun. The Doctor stared at her amazed “I am a dreamer…a protector. I take the words…” Josie waves her hand at the words Bad Wolf Corporation “I scatter them in time and space…” they rise up and float away “…a message to lead myself here”.

“Josie , you've got to stop this. You've got to stop this now”, the Doctor said urgently. Josie looked straight ahead as if she hadn’t heard him. “You've got the entire vortex running through your head. You're going to burn”, he added his concern growing for the young woman. 

Josie suddenly looked at him “I want you safe”, she said, tears in her eyes “My spaceman. Protected from the false god”. 

“You cannot hurt me. I am immortal” the Emperor Dalek declared. Josie looked up at the Dalek facing her.

“You are tiny. I can see the whole of time and space. Every single atom of your existence, and I divide them” Josie raised her hand and the Dalek in front of her disintegrated into golden particles “Everything must come to dust…all things. Everything dies” she looked to the side and the Daleks lined up were also reduced to golden particles “The Time War ends”, Josie said as the Emperor and his entire mother ship turned into golden particles, dissolving away into oblivion.

“Josie , you've done it. Now stop. Just let go”, the Doctor urged.

“I can’t. There’s one more she wants me to do”, Josie said.

 In the corridor, Jack takes a huge intake of air as his eyes snap open….

The Doctor felt what she’d done and knew it was wrong. Why would the TARDIS want her to bring Jack back to life? He was broken from his thoughts when Josie spoke again “I can see _everything_. All that is…all that was…all that ever could be”.

The Doctor stands up abruptly. He understood completely what she could see, he was it all the time “That’s what I see”, he said “All the time. And doesn’t it drive you mad?”

“Yes”, she replied “it’s too much” her voice started to tremble and the Doctor saw her face contort in pain “My head…its killing me…”

The Doctor reached out, cupping her face “I think you need a Doctor”, he said softly before leaning down and pressing his lips against hers. As he kissed her, the time vortex flows out of her eyes and into the Doctor’s. Slowly, they parted, gazing at each other before Josie ’s eyes fluttered closed and fell into his arms, unconscious.

The Doctor laid her carefully down on the floor before turning to the TARDIS and exhaling the time vortex out of his mouth. The golden energy flowed back into the ship and its doors close. He knelt down, regarding his Earth Girl as he reached out and tenderly stroking her face.

A moment later, he gently picked her up and carried her into the TARDIS, the door swinging shut behind him. The Doctor put her down on the grilled floor and sent the TARDIS into the time vortex. He winced in pain as the regeneration process was starting. _I can’t go. Not yet_ the Doctor thought. It wouldn’t be fair to Josie if she woke up to find he’d changed.

Eventually she regained consciousness. “What happened?” Josie asked sitting up and rubbing her head rather confused.

“You don’t remember?” the Doctor asked mildly surprised. 

Josie shook her head, getting to her feet “No. I remember a golden light… and there was this singing…”

“That’s right! I sang a song and the Dalek’s ran away”, the Doctor said cheerfully.

Josie laughed but immediately regretted it as her head was still aching pretty badly. She closed her eyes, rubbing her temples. While she was doing this, the Doctor noticed the veins in the hand resting on the console shimmer for a brief moment with a golden light.

“I would kill for an aspirin right now”, she mumbled.

“I’ll get you one later”, the Doctor said. Josie opened her eyes when she heard the strain in his voice.

“Whats wrong?” she asked.

“Josie, I was going take you to so many places. Barcelona. Not the city Barcelona, the planet Barcelona. You'd love it. Fantastic place. They've got dogs with no noses” the Doctor laughed at his own joke. Josie giggled too “Imagine how many times a day you end up telling that joke, and it's still funny”.

“Then why can’t we go?” Josie asked.

“Maybe you will. And maybe I will. But not like this”, the Doctor replied.

“What do you…” Josie started but then realised what he meant “you’re regenerating”. The Doctor opened his mouth to agree with her when he was suddenly forced backward with a blast of golden light. He clutched his stomach as though he’d been punched. “I’m so sorry”, Josie said “I was trying to save you…not…” she trailed off and gestured to him “I really screwed up” she turned away trying to fight back the tears. She of course had seen regenerate many times, in her dreams, and they’ve always made her sad. But this time she felt worse as she was the cause.

“You didn’t screw up”, the Doctor said in a soft voice making Josie turn back “you _did_ save me, Earth Girl”.  

“Spaceman”, Josie countered with a sniffle “I’m gonna miss that face”, she added, tears threatening to fall.

“Yeah, me too”, the Doctor agreed “and before I go, I just wanna tell you that you were fantastic”. Those words hit her like a freight train. They were the same words that she heard when she touched the TARDIS console for the first time.

The Doctor smiled at her, very proud “and d’you know what?” he asked.

“What?” Josie asked, wiping away a tear that had rolled down her cheek.

“So was I” the Doctor grinned at her before seemingly exploding with orange energy. Josie stumbled backwards, watching with wide eyes as the Doctor she knew change. His hair lengthened, his face changed and he grew slimmer. The light suddenly died away, revealing a completely different man wearing the Doctor’s clothes. He looked slightly surprised for a moment before turning to Josie who was staring at him.

“Hello! Okay… Ooo” the Doctor stopped and frowned, running his tongue over his teeth “new teeth.

That's weird. So, where was I? Oh, that's right. Barcelona” The newly regenerated Doctor grinned at her.


	24. Born again

Josie watched the new Doctor run around the console flicking switches, checking the monitor “6pm…Tuesday...” he muttered turning a knob “October... 2006... On the way to Barcelona!” the Doctor straightens up and faces Josie grinning as if he was pleased with himself. “Now then... what do I look like?” the Time Lord didn’t even let her have a chance to talk before speaking again “No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. No. Don't tell me”, he said.  

Josie watched as he checked himself out, noting his accent. It was the same one she heard after the previous Doctor spoke. She wondered if he’d asked her if she’d like to break the time limit. If he did then that meant she had heard a future Doctor. It also that the voice after Southern British is also a future Doctor too. And that would be a first for her. She had never seen or heard the future when it came to the Doctor. Though having said that, she could’ve witnessed events _before_ they happened for the earlier incarnations of the Doctor. But it would be difficult to know for sure.

Although…if she continued to journey with the Doctor, she might potentially get the answer if and only if she had dreams of adventures he’d yet to go on. “So, tell me, what do you think?” the Doctor asked bringing Josie out of her thoughts.

“Huh?” Josie asked, not having heard him.

“What do you think?” the Doctor repeated gesturing to himself.

“Um…you look different?” Josie offered.

“Good different or bad different?” the Doctor questioned.

“Uh…” Josie stepped closer to him, her dark blue eyes quickly looking him over, properly taking in his new appearance. “I think it’ll take some getting used to” her eyes flickered up to his hair “especially to your hair” she reached up and playfully ruffled it “you’ve got so much of it!”

“That’s not a problem, is it?” the Doctor asked.

Josie shook her head “nope”, she answered “just means I can do this” she ruffled his hair a bit more before she withdrew her hand “So how are you feeling? Any weird post regenerative thing?”

“I feel fine”, the Doctor replied “what about you? Still got that headache?”

Josie had completely forgotten about her headache as she’d been more focused on the Doctor’s regeneration. But surprisingly, her head wasn’t hurting anymore. “Actually, no I don’t. Its gone”, she said “But uh how about Barcelona? You said there were dogs with no noses?” Josie added, swiftly changing the subject.

“Yes, I did”, the Doctor clapped his hands and dashed to the console “Barcelona. Dogs with no noses and lots of running guaranteed. We did lots of running didn’t we? All across the universe” he flicked some switches “and one time we had to hop” he started hopping on the spot “remember that Josie?”

“Yeah, I do”, Josie laughed “remember when I ‘created’ the game hopscotch on that planet where they always played games. What was it called…?” Josie snapped her fingers as she tried to recall.

“Telassa”, the Doctor supplied.

Josie pointed at him “That’s it!” she said, nearly cheered.

“And they loved you for it”, the Doctor added.

“Yes, they did”, Josie agreed “you know… I wonder if you can dance as well as your previous-self”.

“Lets find out”, the Doctor said taking her hand and spun her towards him. Josie giggled as they danced on the spot, the Doctor grinning away. He was happy that their dynamic hadn’t changed even though he himself had.

Then he suddenly felt strange. “Josie I…” he broke off gagging, stepping back.

“Doctor?” Josie asked looking at him concerned. The Doctor attempted to talk again but ended up gagging again a bit more violently this time

“Uh oh”, he muttered.

“Whats is it?” Josie asked worriedly.

“The change is going a bit wrong”, he replied before gagging again, falling to his knees. Josie knelt in front of him very, very concerned for him.

“Maybe we should forget Barcelona”, Josie suggested “you need a rest. Possibly a healing coma?”

“Yeah, that’s probably best”, the Doctor agreed. As Josie helped him to his feet, the Doctor noticed a lever on the console caught his eye. “I haven't used this one in years”, he said flicking it. The TARDIS shudders violently, nearly knocking them both off their feet.

“What're you doing?!” Josie shouted.

“Putting on a bit of speed!” the Doctor said sounding crazed “That's it!”

Josie could only cling onto the console tightly as the Doctor ran around it turning knobs. “My beautiful ship!” the Time Lord shouted racing around flicking all the switches he could “Come on, faster! That's a girl!” he said urging his ship on. Josie stared at him rather afraid of this crazed version of him. “Faster! Wanna to break the time limit?!”

“Spaceman stop it!” Josie yelled at him just wanting him to calm down, barely registering the fact that he’d said the same thing she heard when first touching the console.

“Ah, don’t be so dull Earth Girl…where’s your sense of adventure?” the Doctor asked.  

“I have plenty thank you very much”, Josie shot back “but I don’t particularly feel like dying today so calm the heck down!” 

Surprisingly the Doctor did as he said. “The regeneration's going wrong. I can't stop myself”, he admitted.

Josie’s face softened “I know”, she said. She moved over to him and placed a hand on his arm, rubbing it “lets just stop with the crazy before you end up destroying the TARDIS, ok?”

The Doctor was about to answer her when he grimaced in pain “Ah, my head...” he groaned before he violently jerked away from her, turning crazed once more “Faster! Let's open those engines!” he shouted darting around the console to pull a random lever.

“What's that?” Josie asked as a bell started to ring.

“We're gonna crash land!” the Doctor replied laughing manically.

“Well then, do something Doctor!”

“Too late! Out of control!” the Doctor said, his voice rising hysterically “Oh, I love it! Hot dawg!” he hopped on the spot excitedly. Josie clung onto the console tightly terrified about what was going to happen. “Hold on tight, here we go!”


	25. A Christmas to remember part 1

Josie blinked at the sudden change of light when the Doctor dragged her out of the TARDIS, barely giving her time to recover from the crash landing. Her eyes widened when she saw, after her eyes finally adjusted to natural daylight, they hadn’t landed on a different planet. They’d landed on Earth. Outside her house in fact. “Um…Doctor? Unless the planet Barcelona has a building that looks identical to my house…I think its safe to say were in the wrong place”.

“Oh”. The Doctor said taking in their surroundings “ah well this can be a pit stop. Besides you have been home since the Slitheen invasion”.

“And who’s fault is that I wonder?” Josie asked in a teasing way “you’re the one who was taking us all over the universe. Didn’t exactly have a chance to make a request to go home”.

“But you had fun, though?” the Doctor asked, his head starting to spin. It seemed that he may have to go into a healing coma for the remainder of the regeneration cycle after all.

“Of course I did!” Josie replied “aside almost dying, I had the time of my life”.

The Doctor smiled despite how he was feeling “Good I’m…” he didn’t get anything more than those two words out before he suddenly collapsed, shocking Josie.

She knelt down beside him and gently shook his shoulder “Doctor?” no response “Doctor! Come on spaceman don’t do this! I can’t move you on my own”.

“Josie?” a very familiar voice said. Josie looked up and saw it was none other than her best friend Beth Greyson.

“Beth? What are you doing here?” Josie asked.

“Some guy with this Scottish accent and bushy eyebrows told me to be here”, Beth replied.

“He sure does get around”, Josie muttered. That Scottish man seemed to be popping up quite a bit. First telling her to not give up hope then telling Mickey to go to Cardiff…now it seemed he told her best friend to be at her house. It made her wonder, who exactly was this guy and why was he getting involved?

“Oh my god”, Beth breathed, staring at the TARDIS “is that the TARDIS?” she then glanced down at the unconscious Time Lord “a-and that’s the Doctor! I’m right aren’t I? He’s the Doctor?”

“Yes, he IS the Doctor”, Josie confirmed “do you think you could help me?” she asked.

“Oh! Right, of course”, Beth said. The purple haired young woman crouched down, putting her hands under the Doctor’s arms while Josie took hold of his legs. Together they carried the Time Lord into her home. The pair took him into the spare bedroom and laid him on the bed, but not before removing his leather jacket and shoes “Will he be ok?” Beth asked.

“Yeah, he’ll be fine”, Josie answered.

“Are _you_ ok?” Beth countered glancing at her friend “sweetie? What is it?” she asked seeing her start to tear up.

“It’s all my fault. He’s like this because of me”, Josie answered.

“What do you mean?” Beth questioned.

“I tried to save his life. It worked…but it almost killed me so he…um…” Josie swallowed back the tears “he saved me. And it cost him a regeneration. The weird thing is, he’s not mad at me. Before he regenerated he called me…fantastic” Beth hugged her friend when she burst into tears. “I’m sorry Beth”, Josie sniffled, stepping back “its just been one crazy ride”.

“Why don’t we talk about it over a cup of tea?” Beth suggested “unless he’s going to wake up soon” she nodded over to the Doctor.

“No, it’ll take him a few hours to wake up”, Josie said “a cup of tea sounds like a good idea”. The pair left the room, heading for the kitchen.

“So tell me about you ‘crazy ride’”, Beth said leaning against the kitchen counter watching Josie put water into a kettle “how did you finally meet the Doctor?”

“Well, he actually came here asking for my help”, Josie answered taking out two mugs and putting tea bags in each “surprised me when he showed up. I wasn’t excepting to see him in my home”.

“What did he need you help with?” Beth questioned.

“Remember the thing on the news about the UFO crashing into Big Ben and then the Thames?” Josie asked.

“Who can forget that?” Beth said “it was a pretty big deal for almost everyone in London”.

“It was a fake”, Josie told her “the real aliens were disguised as overweight people. They wanted to start WW3 in order to destroy the Earth to sell off pieces of it as fuel. We…or more correctly Mickey Smith stopped them by firing a missile at 10 Downing Street” she turned to the kettle as it clicked off and poured out water into the mugs “after that I joined the Doctor and Rose on their travels”.

“That’s some first meeting”, Beth remarked taking out milk from the fridge and giving to Josie when she indicated for it “so where else did you go?”

“Oh, here and there”, Josie answered adding milk to the mugs “we went to an alien museum and was almost killed by a Dalek…”

Beth paled at that “oh my”, she breathed remembering what Josie had told her about those monsters.

Josie glanced at her “yeah…that wasn’t at all fun” she took out the tea bags, dumping them onto the small dish by the kettle “The next place was run by this big blob monster called a Jagrafess…which we destroyed by the power of knowledge. After that Rose wanted to see her father on the day he died” she picked up a mug and held it out to Beth who took it “that was a mahoosive mistake. Paradox…the Doctor being taken… Rose was sent home” Josie took a sip of her tea “The Doctor and I then went London 1941 where we met Jack Harkness. American, reasonable looking, flirted with everything that walked including me until I set him straight. From then on he was like an annoying big brother”.

“Wait, _was_?” Beth asked picking up on her use of the past tense.

Josie set her mug down “we lost him”, she replied.

“I’m so sorry”, Beth said quietly “what happened?”

“He died fighting. Probably the way he would’ve liked to have gone out”, Josie said. She sighed “I’m gonna miss him”, she added.

“What happened after?” Beth asked.

“I tried to save the Doctor’s life and well…you saw him”, Josie said.

Beth set down her mug and went over to Josie “Its going to be ok Josie”, she said gently putting an arm around her “The Doctor is going to have his little rest and as soon as he’s awake, us three will have Christmas dinner”.

Josie looked at her in surprise “Its Christmas?” she asked.

“Yeah, didn’t you know?” Beth, questioned.

“No, I didn’t”, Josie answered “you get sort of timeless in the TARDIS. You can remember days and nights but the exact date can sometimes be forgotten, especially when your travelling to different time periods”.

“Why don’t you go for a walk?” Beth suggested “might get into the Christmas spirit”.

“I don’t know Beth…” Josie said.

“The Doctor will be fine with me for a little while”, Beth said “go, on. Enjoy the fresh air of Earth”.

Josie laughed “ok, I’ll go for walk”, she said. She finished up her tea, pulled on some shoes and a jacket. Josie checked in on the Doctor on her way out, he was still unconscious.

\---------------

“This is super weird”, the blackette muttered as she walked, taking in all the Christmas decorations. As she told Beth, you get kinda timeless in the TARDIS, don’t really keep track of things like birthdays and Christmas. _Hm… maybe I should get a little something for Beth and the Doctor?_ she thought.

As she wandered around the little stalls trying to find a good present for her two friends, Josie couldn’t help but feel like something was wrong. She looked up from the snow globe she’d been inspecting and saw a brass band dressed as Santa. Josie straightened up eyeing the brass band and the more she looked at them, the worse the feeling she got.

Slowly the band lowered their instruments and then without warning, they started firing blue flames out of them! The Snow globe dropped out of her hand, shattering on the floor as she took cover. This was crazy! She was being attacked by a brass band! But why on earth would they be attacking her? What did she….Josie’s eyes widened when it hit her. The Doctor! They have to be after the Doctor! She had to get back home, fast!

She darted out from behind the stall and ran as fast as they could down the street. “Taxi!” Josie shouted, waving her arms to flag one down. The black vehicle pulled up to a stop in front of her and she clambered in. She told the driver her address before she took out her phone to ring Beth. She had to warn her about the imminent danger. “Come on Beth, pick up”, Josie muttered hearing the phone ring several times. She groaned when she only got her friend’s voicemail. She left a short message before the hung up.

The second the taxi reached the end of her street, Josie had him stop. She tossed some money at him “keep the change”, she said and got out. As soon she hit the pavement, she ran.

“Oh, hey Josie”, Beth greeted at the blackette burst through the front door.

“Why didn’t you pick the phone?” Josie asked going from room to room, looking around, checking to see if any of the band had beaten her home “I’ve just been attacked by a Santa Brass Band”.

“Oh, my god”, Beth breathed “are you ok?”

“I’m fine”, Josie replied “why didn’t you…” she trailed off when she saw a Christmas tree in the living room, complete with ornaments. “Where did that come from?” she asked.

“I uh bought it a week ago. As the Scottish guy said you’d be here for Christmas…I thought I’d get it as a surprise”, Beth explained “it came while you were out. Though I didn’t order it decorated”.

As soon as she said that, the tree lights up by itself and starts playing _Jingle Bells_. “Oh my god!” Beth cried as baubles floated off of the tree. They shot around the room, crashing into walls and furniture. Beth and Josie quickly took cover. “We’ve got to get out of here!” Beth exclaimed.

“You don’t say!” Josie said which as much sass as she could muster. She looked toward the doorway. “Make a run for it, now!” she ordered. They surged to their feet and rushed to the doorway. Josie cried out when one of the baubles stuck her across the face.

“Josie!” Beth yelled seeing her friend go down. Suddenly there was a high pitched noise and Christmas tree exploded, as well as the baubles. The purple haired woman stared at the mess shocked. She was brought out of it when the Doctor moved past her, going over to Josie. He gently touched her and she groaned, shifting a little.

“Doctor”, she mumbled, squinting up at him “you’re awake”.

“Yeah, I am”, he said. He knew it was potentially dangerous to be awake right now but when he heard the commotion…Beth’s shout for her friend…he had to do something. And it was a good thing too otherwise both of them could’ve been severely hurt. The Doctor carefully helped Josie to her feet, steadying her when she swayed.

“How did you stop the possessed Christmas tree?” Josie asked looking over at the remains of the tree.

“Sonic screwdriver”, the Doctor replied “and it’s not possessed, at least not in the way you think. It was remote controlled”.

“So who’s controlling it?” Beth spoke up “is it your Santa Brass Band Josie?”

“Lets go find out”, the Doctor said.


	26. A Christmas to remember part 2

The trio went to the front door where Josie opened it to find three Santas on the pavement. “Looks like Santa Brass Band Josie”, Beth remarked. The Doctor aims his sonic at the Santas in a threatening manner. The small group of Santas vanish in a flash. “Blimey, they scarpered quick”, the purple haired woman commented “I know they did some real damage in the living room with the killer baubles and Christmas tree but they're not much cop if that sonic screwdriver scared them off”.

“The Santa Brass Band are called Pilot Fish”, the Doctor added. He then grimaced and rubbed his head.

“Come on, lets get you sat down before you fall down”, Josie said taking hold of the Time Lord’s arm and led him back inside. “Beth would you mind putting the kettle on?” the black haired woman asked “think we could all do with one”.

“Yes, tea! Superheated infusion of free radicals and tannin”, the Doctor said “It is just the thing I need”. The tea would definitely with his head which was starting to ache. Most likely a neuron implosion was imminent if he didn’t get tea soon.

“Three cups of superheated infusion of free radicals and tannin coming right up”, Beth said and headed into the kitchen. Josie took the Doctor back to the spare room given that the living room was a complete mess. She sat him down on the bed.

“How are you feeling?” the Time Lord asked eyeing the red mark on her face.

“I should be asking you that question”, Josie said “given that you don’t look so good”.

“I’ll be fine”, the Doctor said waving off her concerns “as soon as I get some tea. So, what about you? Are _you_ ok?”

“I’m fine Spaceman”, Josie replied “cheek feels a bit tender but I’ll live”.

Beth then hurried in carrying a tray with three mugs of tea. “Here we go. Three caffeinated brews”, she said setting it down on the bedside table. She gave one to the Doctor and another to Josie. “So what do these Pilot Fish want?” Beth asked sipping her tea.

She and Josie watched the Doctor take a couple of big gulps of the hot drink before he spoke “they want me, my regeneration energy. They could run their batteries on me for a couple of years”.

“Why attack us?” Beth questioned.

“They saw you as ‘the defence’, the obstacles between themselves and me”, the Doctor replied. He looked at Josie “I’m so sorry…”

“Don’t be”, Josie said “its not your fault those things decided to fixate on you. But they’ve made a monumental mistake in doing so because there’s no way in hell I’m letting them take you”.

“Same here”, Beth agreed “But I think there might be a more pressing question”, she added.

“You know, the name Pilot Fish sounds familiar”, Josie said after a moment. There was a nature documentary she watched a while back to do with the Worlds Oceans and she was sure that Pilot Fish was mentioned. “I think it’s something to do with little fish hanging around big fish…like Sharks, removing parasites from their or something”. 

“You’re not wrong. That’s exactly what Pilot Fish do”, the Doctor confirmed.

“Sooo should we be expecting a ‘Shark’ to make an appearance soon?” Beth asked wondering if they needed to be worried about the possible upcoming threat.

“I’m afraid so”, the Doctor said seriously.

“Well I don’t know about you but I’m not going to sit around for another alien invasion”, Josie said standing up “my living room is trashed and I’m going to tidy it”. She finished up her tea, setting it down onto the tray and left the room.

The Doctor set his down and went to join Josie, Beth quickly followed his example. Between the three of them they managed to get the room reasonably tidy. Although there was now a pile of broken furniture in Josie’s back garden. “Why don’t you two get some sleep?” the Doctor suggested seeing how tired Josie and Beth were starting to look.

“What about the ‘Shark’?” Josie asked around a yawn “what if it comes while we’re asleep?”

“I’ll wake you if anything happens”, the Doctor promised.

“Okey dokey”, Beth said before she shuffled in the direction of the spare room.

“There’s plenty of books in my room if you wanna take a few to read”, Josie offered gesturing toward the doorway with her thumb.

“Thanks but I’ll be ok”, the Doctor said “got some thinking to do”.

“Alright then. Night Spaceman”, Josie said.

“Night Earth Girl”

\----------------

The sun had barely started to rise when there was a commotion from outside the house. “What is wrong with you?” a woman shouted “Jason? Jason?”

The Doctor ran out of the house to see several people walking down the road, in some sort of daze, a blue flashing every so often around their heads. He knew what that was. They were being hypnotised somehow and it looked to be about a third of the people on Josie’s road that were effected.

He turned his gaze upward towards the sky. He couldn’t see anything but he knew that the ‘Shark’ had arrived. The invasion had started. The Doctor turned and went back inside, making a beeline for Josie’s room. “Josie”, he said shaking her shoulder. He didn’t get a response from the blackette.  “Josie!” he said louder. This time the young woman stirred.

“What’s wrong?” she asked sleepily.

The Doctor was about to tell her when all of a sudden the windows in her room exploded. Josie yelped when the Time Lord all but flung himself on top of her, to protect her from the flying glass fragments. Josie clung onto him as the room shook violently. When it stopped the Doctor moved back a little to look at her “you ok?” he asked.

“Uh huh”, Josie breathed. The pair stared at each other. Dark blue into brown. For some reason the Time Lord felt this urge to kiss her. However, he suppressed it and moved off of the blackette. As he was helping her off the bed, making sure she didn’t step in any glass shards with her bare feet when Beth ran in looking rather freaked.

“There’s a big ass spaceship above us!” she exclaimed pointing towards the door “come on!”

The purple haired woman then dashed off. Josie quickly tugged on her slippers and hurried after her with the Doctor. The blackette gaped at the large shadow looming high above, obscuring the sun “You weren’t kidding”, Josie said “that is big”.

“You guys stay here”, the Doctor said and without waiting for a reply, he walked quickly to the TARDIS.

“What? No way”, Josie said chasing after him. She grabbed hold of the handle just before he managed to open the door “you’re not going anywhere without me”.

“Josie, its going to be dangerous”, the Doctor warned.

“All the more reason to go”, Josie said. The pair looked at each other, a silent battle of the wills. The Time Lord sighed.

“Fine you can come. But you do everything I say, got it?” the Doctor said. He didn’t want to be stern with her but after almost losing her a few times, he didn’t want to risk her life anymore. Josie meant more to him than any companion that travelled with him before.

“You got it”, Josie said “Spaceman”, she added earning a smile from the Time Lord. She let go of the door handle, allowing the Doctor to open  the door. He entered the blue box with Josie. Beth quickly slipped in before the Doctor could close the door. 

Her mouth dropped open as she took in the interior. “When you told me that it was bigger on the inside, I thought you were kidding Josie”, she said walking up the ramp.

“When it comes to the Doctor, I don’t kid Beth”, Josie said. She turned to the Doctor “so whats the plan?” she asked.

“Hold on tight”, he answered, pulling a lever. The TARDIS lurched causing both Beth and Josie to stumble. They quickly made their way to the console and grabbed hold of it. The blue box shook for a moment before it stilled. “I don’t know whats out there so you two stay behind me”, the Doctor said to the two woman.

Beth nodded while Josie said “you got it”.

With the Doctor in the lead, the trio walked down the ramp and out of the TARDIS. “Did you miss me?” he asked the group of red skinned aliens with a cheeky grin. The Sycorax Leader who was the closest to the three of them, roared in fury and lashes his whip at the Doctor. The Time Lord easily caught it though he didn’t want to think what would’ve happened to Josie and Beth if he hadn’t seeing at they were right behind him. He pulls it out of the alien’s hands and tosses it away. You could have someone's eye out with that!”

The Sycorax tried to attack him with his staff and again the Doctor disarmed him. This time he snapped the staff in half and tossed he pieces away. “You just can't get the staff. Now, you, just wait. I'm busy”, the Doctor said pointing warningly at the Sycorax leader. The Time Lord turned back to his companion and her friend. “You two ok?” he asked.

“Yeah I’m…” Josie trailed off when she noticed a familiar looking woman standing off to the side with a rather frightened looking man “Harriet?!”

The blackette hurried over to her and Harriet hugged her when she got close enough. “Josie! My lord. My precious thing”, she said “is the Doctor with you?”

“Yep”, Josie replied stepping out of the woman’s hold. She glanced back at the Doctor and Beth “that’s him there and my good friend Beth”

“Hiya”, Beth greeted with a wave.

Harriet frowned at the Doctor “But he doesn’t look like the Doctor”, she said “though he’s wearing his clothes”, she added as an afterthought.

“He may look different but trust me, he IS the Doctor”, Josie insisted. When Harriet still didn’t look like she believe her, the Doctor stepped up.

“Harriet Jones, we were trapped in Downing Street and the one thing that scared you wasn't the aliens…it wasn't the war…it was the thought of your mother being on her own”, he told her.

“Oh, my God”, Harriet breathed realising that this man in front of her was indeed the Doctor.

“Did you win the election?” the Doctor asked with a grin.

“Landslide majority”, Harriet said smiling, rather pleased.

“If I might interrupt!” the Sycorax Leader said loudly.

They all spin around having completely forgotten all about him. “Yes! Sorry! Hello, big fella!” the Doctor greeted.

“Who exactly are you?” the Sycorax Leader demanded.

“Well, that's the question”, the Doctor answered with a grin.

“I demand to know who you are!”

“I DON’T KNOW!” the Doctor bellowed back mimicking the leader’s roar. He then relaxed “See, there's the thing. I'm the Doctor, but beyond that I…I just don't know. I literally do not know who I am. It's all untested. Am I funny? Am I sarcastic?” he looks at Josie “Sexy?” he gave her a cheeky wink and she smiled back at him “Right old misery? Life and soul? Right handed? Left handed? A gambler? A fighter? A coward? A traitor? A liar? A nervous wreck? I mean, judging by the evidence, I've certainly got a gob” The Doctor noticed a button “And how am I going to react when I see this” he points at it with an insane smile “a great big threatening button” he runs up the stairs laughing A Great Big Threatening Button Which Must Not Be Pressed Under Any Circumstances. Am I right? Let me guess. It's some sort of control matrix? Hmm? Hold on, what's feeding it?”

The Doctor crouched down and opens the door in the base of the pillar supporting the button “And what've we got here? Blood?” he dips a finger in and tastes it “Yeah, definitely blood. Human blood. A Positive, with just a dash of iron” he waggles his tongue around at the nasty taste and wipes his finger on his dressing gown “Ah, but that means…blood control…” the Doctor become delighted at that “Blood control! Oh, I haven't seen blood control for years. You're controlling all the A Positives”. Now it made sense, why only third of the people of Josie’s street seemed to be hypnotised. One third of the Earth’s population had the blood type A positive. “Which leaves us with a great big stinking problem. Because I really don't know who I am. I don't know when to stop. So if I see a Great Big Threatening Button Which Should Never Ever Be Pressed…then I just want to do this”. 

He whacks the button hard “No!” Harriet and Beth shouted. 

“You killed them!” Alex exclaimed.

Josie rolled her eyes. “Of course he didn’t kill them”, she said “there’s no way he’d press that button is he knew that’s what it would do”.

“What do you think, big fella? Are they dead?” the Doctor asked.

“We allow them to live”, the Sycorax Leader answered.

“Allow? You've no choice! I mean, that's all blood control is. A cheap bit of voodoo. Scares the pants off you, but that's as far as it goes. It's like hypnosis…you can hypnotise someone to walk like a chicken or sing like Elvis. You can't hypnotise them to death. Survival instinct's too strong”, the Doctor explained.

“Blood control was just one form of conquest. I can summon the armada and take this world by force”

“Well, yeah, you could, yeah, you could do that, of course you could. But why? Look at these people” the Doctor gestured to the humans “These human beings. Consider their potential. From the day they arrive on the planet and blinking step into the sun…”

“Is he seriously quoting Lion King?” Beth asked Josie quietly.

“Yeah, he is”, she replied.

“…there is more to see than can ever be seen. More to do than…”

“Spaceman, that’s the Lion King”, Josie said loudly.

“Is it?” the Doctor asked, confused “Well the point still stands. Leave them alone!”

“Or what?”

“Or…” the Doctor grabs a sword from one of the Sycorax guarding the humans, runs down the steps and comes to a stop in front of the TARDIS “I challenge you”

The leader and the other Sycorax burst out in laughter “Oh, that struck a chord. Am I right that the sanctified rules of combat still apply?”

“You stand as this world's champion”, the Sycorax leader said unsheathing his sword and walking down the steps.

“Thank you. I've no idea who I am, but you just summed me up” he shrugged off his leather jacket and tossed it over to Josie who just about catches it. “So…you accept my challenge? Or are you just a cranak pel casacree salvak?”

The Sycorax hisses at the insult. The two kneel by their swords. “For the planet?”

“For the planet”


	27. A Christmas to remember part 3

The humans watch as the Doctor and the Sycorax leader fought. Josie winced when the Doctor was knocked to one side. He quickly recovered and continued fighting. The onlookers watched him retreat up a tunnel, still locked in combat with the Sycorax Leader.  He hit a button on the wall opening a door, taking the fight outside.

Josie grabbed hold of Beth’s hand when the Doctor got elbowed in the nose by the red skinned alien. He groaned, stumbling back a few steps, clutching his nose. “Come on Spaceman”, he heard Josie urge. His gaze flickered over to the blackette who was watching the battle, gripping onto Beth’s hand. He couldn’t afford to lose, not with his Earth Girl’s life on the line. Much more determined, he lifted his sword and ran at the Sycorax Leader. The Sycorax leader ran at him and they clashed swords once more. The pair both grimace with effort that is until the Sycorax Leader managed to knock the Doctor backwards to the ground. The alien slashed at the Doctor’s wrist cutting his hand off.

“No!” Josie exclaimed.

The Doctor watched his hand fall to Earth “You cut my hand off”, he stated both stunned and annoyed.

“Ya! Sycorax!” the leader said triumphantly.

The Doctor got to his feet “And now I know what sort of man I am. I'm lucky. ‘Cos quite by chance I'm still within the first fifteen hours of my regeneration cycle, which means I've got just enough residual cellular energy…to do this” he holds up his stump of an arm and before the eyes of everyone, his hand grew back.

“Witchcraft”, the Sycorax leader snarled.

“Time Lord”, the Doctor retorted.

Josie let go of Beth’s hand and snatched a sword from a nearby Sycorax “Doctor!” she called and he turned to her. She tossed him the sword.

“Thanks Josie!” the Doctor said as he caught the sword. He turned back to the Sycorax Leader “Want to know the best bit? This new hand…” he dropped into a Texan accent “It's a fightin’ hand!” The Doctor runs at the Sycorax leader and the fighting resumes.

 This time it’s the Doctor who seems to have the upper hand. He whacked the Sycorax leader hard in the stomach with the hilt of his sword and the alien groans. The Doctor does it twice causing the Sycorax leader to fall to the ground. “I win”, the Doctor said pointing his sword at the alien’s throat.

 “Then kill me”

 “I'll spare your life if you'll take this Champion's command: Leave this planet, and never return. What do you say?” the Doctor asked, in a serious tone.

 “Yes”, the Sycorax leader said agreeing with the Doctor’s terms.

 The Doctor jabbed his sword closer “Swear on the blood of your species”, he ordered in a far more angry tone than before.

 “I swear”

The Doctor grinned, his anger now gone “There we are, then! Thanks for that! Cheers, big fella!” he jabs his sword into the ground.

Josie ran over with the Doctor’s leather jacket and gave him a big hug “Nicely done Spaceman”, she said happily.

The Doctor smiled down at her “Thanks Earth Girl”, he said. The blackette helped him into the jacket.

“What’s wrong?” she asked when he made a face.

“I don’t think I’m a leather jacket person any more”, he replied.

“I’m not surprised, you are a new person after all”, Josie said.

Behind them the Sycorax leader get to his feet. He picks up his sword, roaring as he charged at them. Without even turning around the Doctor calmly reached into his pocket, pulled out a banana and threw it at a button on the side of the ship. The ground beneath the Sycorax Leader opened up causing him to tumbled to Earth screaming. “No second chances. I'm that sort of a man”, the Doctor said seriously glaring at the other Sycorax as he wound his arm possessively around Josie.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Doctor stands in front of the TARDIS with Josie and the others “By the ancient rites of combat, I forbid you to scavenge here for the rest of time” the Doctor said looking at all the Sycorax seriously “And when go you back to the stars and tell others of this planet…when you tell them of its riches, its people, its potential. When you talk of the Earth, then make sure that you tell them this. It is defended”.

After that they were teleported back to Earth. “Where are we?” Beth asked looking around.

“We're just off Bloxom Road”, Josie answered “about 20 minutes away from my house”.

“So, did we do it?” Beth asked the Doctor .

The Doctor holds up his hand as the spaceship’s engines started up. “Wait a minute…wait a minute…”, the Time Lord said as the ship takes flight, back into the skies and the Doctor grins.

“We did it”, Beth cheered jumping up and down with glee “woo!”

The Doctor chuckled as the purple haired woman grabbed Josie and started doing a happy dance on the spot. Alex took Harriet a little ways away to have a private word with her. “Just got a message from Torchwood. They say they’re ready”, he said.

Harriet looked over at the trio, the Doctor now having been drawn into Josie and Beth’s celebratory dance. “Tell them to fire”, the woman ordered.

“Fire at will”, Alex said into his communication device. They only had to wait for a moment until a beam of green light shot up into the sky. The Doctor, Josie and Beth jumped as they hadn’t been expecting it. They looked up in horror as four more beams join the first, destroying the Sycorax spaceship.

“Oh my god”, Beth gasped, hand over her mouth in shock.

The Doctor stormed up to Harriet angrily with Josie and Beth following him. “That was murder”, the Doctor stated angrily.

“That was defence. It's adapted from alien technology. A ship that fell to Earth ten years ago”, Harriet explained.

“But they were leaving”, Josie said shocked that Harriet would do something like that. That action was something the old Harriet she’d met would ever never do. It looked like being Prime minister had made her into a completely different person.

“You said yourself, Doctor, they'd go back to the stars and tell others about the Earth. I'm sorry, Doctor, but you're not here all the time. You come and go. It happened today. Mister Llewellyn and the Major, they were murdered. They died right in front of me while you were absent. In which case we have to defend ourselves”, Harriet said trying to defend herself and her actions.

“Britain's Golden Age”, the Doctor disdainfully.

“It comes with a price”, Harriet countered.

“I gave them the wrong warning. I should've told them to run as fast as they can, run and hide because the monsters are coming. The human race”

“Those are the people I represent. I did it on their behalf”, Harriet said, still standing by her actions.

“No, you didn’t”, Beth said “those Sycorax were leaving, they weren’t coming back. And _you_ killed them”.

“And I should have stopped you”, the Doctor added.

“What does that make you, Doctor? Another alien threat?” Harriet asked.

“Don't challenge me, Harriet Jones, because I'm a completely new man. I could bring down your Government with a single word”, the Doctor threatened.

“You're the most remarkable man I've ever met, but I don't think you're quite capable of that”, Harriet said not believing him.

“No, you’re right. Not a single word. Just six”, the Doctor said correcting himself.

“I don’t think so”, Harriet shook her head.

“Six words”, the Doctor repeated.

“Stop it!” Harriet shouted.

“Six”. The Doctor and Harriet stare at each other in a battle of wills. Josie and Beth stood back and watched feeling the tension from both of them. A moment later the Doctor walked around Harriet and went over to Alex. He removed the man’s earpiece and spoke quietly to him.

Once he was done, Josie and Beth went over to him. The trio then walked away, completely ignoring Harriet’s calls as they headed towards the TARDIS.

~TARDIS wardrobe~

The Doctor rifled through the clothes looking for something different to wear. His last body’s outfit just wasn’t doing it for him anymore. He picked up a soldier costume and held it against his body.

_When I woke up today and the world seemed a restless place, it could have been that way for me_

In another part of the wardrobe, Beth and Josie was searching for clothes for themselves as they had both left the house in their pj’s. The purple haired woman laughed as Josie wound a really long coloured scarf around her neck and stuck a fez on her head. “What you don’t like it?” Josie asked striking a pose.

“I don’t think you could go out dressed like that Josie”, Beth giggled “you’d be laughed at”.

“It’s no weirder than what the Doctor has worn in the past”, Josie said.

“Yeah but he’s the Doctor, he allowed to be a bit eccentric”, Beth pointed out “now come on, we need to find something proper to wear. She grabbed Josie’s hand and tugged her further into the wardrobe, the blackette having to hold up the ends of the scarf so she wouldn’t trip over them.

_Then I wandered around_

The Doctor continued to look through the clothes with no such luck.

_And thought of your face_

Then a brown pinstripe suit catches his eye. He took it off the rack and held it up. Yes, this was the outfit for him. He grabbed a long trench coat and dashed off to get changed.

_That Christmas looking back at me_

Beth, now properly dressed gave Josie the thumbs up to show that she approved of her outfit choice. The blackette darted off to the changing room.

_I wish today was just like every other day_

 The Doctor walked up to the mirror, hands in his pockets, now clad in his new outfit. He turned this way and that, eyeing his reflection.

_Cos today has been the best day_

Josie smiled at her own reflection. She liked what she’d chosen. Red turtleneck jumper, black and white plaid skirt and a pair of black converse.

_Everything I’ve ever dreamed_

“Very nice Josie”, Beth remarked when her friend stepped out.

“Thanks”, Josie said “now lets go find the Doctor”. The two women turned and walked off to start their search for the Time Lord.

The alien in question, nodded in satisfaction of his appearance. “Better go look for Josie and Beth”, he said to himself and started off down the row of clothes.

_Then I started to walk_

“This place is huge! How will we find him?” Beth asked.

“We could send up a signal flare”, Josie suggested earning an unimpressed look from the purple haired woman “or we could just shout really, really loudly”.

“It worth a try”, Beth agreed.

“Doctor!” the two of them shouted.

In another part of the wardrobe, the Time Lord heard their shout. He took off towards the source of the sound.

_Pretty soon I’ll run_

“Spaceman, where are you?!” Josie hollered making the Doctor run faster.

_Then I’ll be running back to you_

The Doctor careened around a corner, almost crashing into the row of coat given how fast he was going.

_Cos I followed my star_

He turned another corner and that’s when he found them. Beth who’d seen him first, drew Josie’s attention to him. The blackette turned around and smiled.

_That’s what you are…_

“You look very handsome Spaceman”, Josie remarked walking towards him.

“You look…” the Doctor trailed off not quite sure of the words to say “lovely”, he said though he wasn’t quite sure the word did her justice “Earth Girl”.

Josie smiled again “thanks”, she said. Beth watched them slowly get closer to each other, the Doctor reaching out to put a hand on Josie’s cheek. She quickly averted her gaze as the Time Lord leaned in.

  _I wish today was just like every other day_

Josie was pretty sure her heart had stopped when the Doctor’s lips met hers. Never in all her years of dreaming of the Doctor did she imagine that she’d be kissing him. And she liked it.

_Cos today has been the best day_

Beth snuck a glance at the couple and found they were still kissing. A soft smile appeared on her face. She always was a sucker for happy endings. And she hoped that what she was witnessing was the start of a long, happy relationship between the two of them.

_Everything I ever dreamed…_

The end!


End file.
